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Luwingu fire, October 2016 Luwingu, Chilubi

Out · last detection 14 Oct 2016, 12:04 UTC

The fire started on 9 October 2016 in Luwingu, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,345 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 225th largest in Northern since 2016 (of 628 with a page). Number 92 in Zambia in 2016, of 246.

Burnt area
5,345ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
9 Oct 2016 – 13 Oct 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
9 Oct
2016
Heat detections
165
in a single hotspot: 207 MW
Danger at start
46
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
3.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

14 Oct 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 9 Oct13 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

91011121314

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

36°high
39km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Luwingu where it started
    5,312 ha reached on 6 Oct
    1.1 %
  2. Chilubi
    69 ha
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
9 Oct 35.5 °C 14 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
10 Oct 34.7 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
11 Oct 33.8 °C 17 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
12 Oct 33.9 °C 18 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
13 Oct 33.5 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
14 Oct after 33.4 °C 17 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
15 Oct after 33.3 °C 17 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
16 Oct after 34.1 °C 18 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
17 Oct after 35.1 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
18 Oct after 34.5 °C 17 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
19 Oct after 32.9 °C 19 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
20 Oct after 32.8 °C 15 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
21 Oct after 33.5 °C 14 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
22 Oct after 34.1 °C 17 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
23 Oct after 34.9 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 2 Oct 2016
After · 20 Oct 2016

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 165Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Zambia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Luwingu fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 October 2016 and 13 October 2016: 5 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,345 hectares (53.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Luwingu (5,312 ha, 1.1 %); Chilubi (69 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.5 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 55, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Zambia (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Satellite cross-check

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

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Where this data comes from

The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.