Luwingu fire, 20 September 2017 Luwingu
The fire started on 20 September 2017 in Luwingu, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,201 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 235th largest in Northern since 2016 (of 628 with a page). Number 91 in Zambia in 2017, of 230.
- Burnt area
- 5,201ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 20 Sept 2017 – 21 Sept 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 20 Sept
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 142
- in a single hotspot: 183 MW
- Danger at start
- 46
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 5.0GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
15% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 762 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Luwingu where it started5,237 ha reached on 20 Sept1.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Sept | 31.8 °C | 26 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 21 Sept | 32.0 °C | 19 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 22 Sept after | 31.2 °C | 19 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 23 Sept after | 31.6 °C | 21 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 24 Sept after | 31.3 °C | 22 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 25 Sept after | 32.3 °C | 19 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 26 Sept after | 32.0 °C | 23 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 27 Sept after | 32.2 °C | 25 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 28 Sept after | 32.8 °C | 19 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 29 Sept after | 32.8 °C | 17 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 30 Sept after | 30.1 °C | 26 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 1 Oct after | 30.7 °C | 25 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · 142Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 69,224 haLuwingu11 August 2026 · 39 days · 8 km away
- 18,404 haLuwinguAugust 2021 · 11 days · 17 km away
- 22,852 haLuwingu27 August 2016 · 21 days · 28 km away
- 25,335 haKasama26 August 2019 · 16 days · 35 km away
- 399,650 haLuwingu23 August 2026 · 30 days · 39 km away
- 91,611 haKasama20 August 2025 · 31 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Luwingu fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 September 2017 and 21 September 2017: 2 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 5,201 hectares (52.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Luwingu (5,237 ha, 1.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.0 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, class Very high.
- 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.
Report an error
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.