Luwingu fire, 11 August 2026 Luwingu, Kasama, Chilubi
The fire started on 11 August 2026 in Luwingu, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 39 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 69,224 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 4th largest in Northern since 2016 (of 628 with a page). Number 11 in Zambia in 2026, of 610.
- Burnt area
- 69,224ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 39days
- 11 Aug 2026 – 18 Sept 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- districts
- Started on
- 11 Aug
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 1,973
- in a single hotspot: 280 MW
- Danger at start
- 27
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 21.6GW
- 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. Rain came after the fire: 1.7 mm on 2 Oct.
This area had burned before
96% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 29,621 ha in 2016, 25,742 ha in 2017, 15,151 ha in 2018, 32,085 ha in 2019, 25,976 ha in 2020, 29,126 ha in 2021, 30,392 ha in 2022, 20,102 ha in 2023, 21,702 ha in 2024, 26,332 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 66,520 ha that had burned before.
- 12,910 ha Luwingu fire, August 2021 18,404 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 11,005 ha Luwingu fire, September 2017 17,177 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 10,891 ha Luwingu fire, August 2019 14,366 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 10,496 ha Luwingu fire, September 2022 12,776 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 7,268 ha Luwingu fire, September 2020 10,470 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 7,230 ha Luwingu fire, August 2024 9,581 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,575 ha Luwingu fire, August 2024 9,429 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,102 ha Kasama fire, August 2021 6,539 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Luwingu where it started55,147 ha reached on 5 Aug11 %
-
14,537 ha reached on 12 Aug1.4 %
-
1 ha reached on 5 Aug0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Aug | 25.9 °C | 41 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 6 Aug | 26.6 °C | 41 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 7 Aug | 27.2 °C | 44 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 8 Aug | 27.6 °C | 42 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 9 Aug | 27.8 °C | 39 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 10 Aug | 29.8 °C | 29 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 11 Aug | 30.1 °C | 28 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 12 Aug | 29.6 °C | 28 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 13 Aug | 26.8 °C | 41 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 14 Aug | 25.1 °C | 40 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 15 Aug | 25.2 °C | 38 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 16 Aug | 25.5 °C | 34 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 17 Aug | 26.4 °C | 30 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 18 Aug | 27.0 °C | 26 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 19 Aug | 26.9 °C | 26 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 20 Aug | 26.9 °C | 32 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 21 Aug | 27.3 °C | 31 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 22 Aug | 28.7 °C | 29 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 23 Aug | 27.9 °C | 37 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 24 Aug | 29.2 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 25 Aug | 28.3 °C | 40 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 26 Aug | 29.4 °C | 37 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 27 Aug | 29.3 °C | 37 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 28 Aug | 28.3 °C | 36 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 29 Aug | 28.9 °C | 36 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 30 Aug | 29.6 °C | 30 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 31 Aug | 29.9 °C | 32 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 1 Sept | 29.7 °C | 35 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 2 Sept | 29.8 °C | 34 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 3 Sept | 30.4 °C | 32 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 4 Sept | 32.3 °C | 28 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 5 Sept | 30.3 °C | 34 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 6 Sept | 30.3 °C | 37 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 7 Sept | 30.4 °C | 34 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 8 Sept | 28.0 °C | 36 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 9 Sept | 27.7 °C | 37 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 10 Sept | 28.3 °C | 37 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 11 Sept | 29.7 °C | 34 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 12 Sept | 30.8 °C | 31 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 13 Sept | 30.9 °C | 30 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 14 Sept | 30.8 °C | 32 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 15 Sept | 30.9 °C | 33 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 16 Sept | 31.2 °C | 26 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 17 Sept | 29.9 °C | 25 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 18 Sept | 30.6 °C | 28 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 19 Sept after | 30.7 °C | 32 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 20 Sept after | 31.3 °C | 28 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 21 Sept after | 30.9 °C | 36 % | 35 km/h | 1.0 mm | High 26 |
| 22 Sept after | 30.0 °C | 37 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 23 Sept after | 30.9 °C | 39 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 24 Sept after | 31.5 °C | 30 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 25 Sept after | 31.1 °C | 32 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 26 Sept after | 32.0 °C | 31 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 27 Sept after | 33.2 °C | 29 % | 33 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 35 |
| 28 Sept after | 33.6 °C | 28 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 29 Sept after | 31.9 °C | 34 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 30 Sept after | 31.0 °C | 32 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 1 Oct after | 29.6 °C | 37 % | 38 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 30 |
| 2 Oct after | 28.2 °C | 48 % | 29 km/h | 1.7 mm | Moderate 13 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 5 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 148 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 82: 5.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 1,973Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Luwingu fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 August 2026 and 18 September 2026: 39 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 69,224 hectares (692.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Luwingu (55,147 ha, 11 %); Kasama (14,537 ha, 1.4 %); Chilubi (1 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.3 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, 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.