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CD · Democratic Republic of the Congo · –

Masi-Manimba fire, 22 July 2020 Masi-Manimba

Out · last detection 24 Aug 2020, 13:08 UTC

The fire started on 22 July 2020 in Masi-Manimba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and satellites saw it burning for 34 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 15,765 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 13th largest in Kwilu since 2016 (of 151 with a page). Number 22 in Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2020, of 165.

Burnt area
15,765ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
34days
22 Jul 2020 – 24 Aug 2020
Municipalities hit
1
territories
Started on
22 Jul
2020
Heat detections
814
in a single hotspot: 153 MW
Danger at start
31
High · FWI index
Average daily power
261MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 22 Jul24 Aug
24 Aug 2020

How it evolved, day by day

22 Jul 2020 · 15 MW · 3 24 Jul 2020 · 111 MW · 16 25 Jul 2020 · 144 MW · 20 26 Jul 2020 · 28 MW · 5 27 Jul 2020 · 208 MW · 25 28 Jul 2020 · 71 MW · 11 29 Jul 2020 · 92 MW · 17 30 Jul 2020 · 10 MW · 3 31 Jul 2020 · 298 MW · 28 1 Aug 2020 · 312 MW · 20 2 Aug 2020 · 83 MW · 12 3 Aug 2020 · 430 MW · 44 4 Aug 2020 · 164 MW · 24 5 Aug 2020 · 1,036 MW · 110 6 Aug 2020 · 901 MW · 87 7 Aug 2020 · 637 MW · 52 8 Aug 2020 · 239 MW · 29 9 Aug 2020 · 214 MW · 39 10 Aug 2020 · 914 MW · 84 11 Aug 2020 · 454 MW · 49 12 Aug 2020 · 243 MW · 24 13 Aug 2020 · 588 MW · 36 14 Aug 2020 · 47 MW · 11 15 Aug 2020 · 325 MW · 22 16 Aug 2020 · 50 MW · 9 17 Aug 2020 · 110 MW · 17 18 Aug 2020 · 8 MW · 3 19 Aug 2020 · 23 MW · 3 21 Aug 2020 · 66 MW · 9 24 Aug 2020 · 16 MW · 2
22 Jul 29 Jul 5 Aug 10 Aug 16 Aug

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

The weather it burned in

35°high
29km/h · peak gust
29%lowest humidity

It had gone 18 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 25 Aug.

This area had burned before

94% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 10,768 ha in 2016, 10,330 ha in 2017, 5,902 ha in 2018, 10,136 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 14,871 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 10% of the area of London (158 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Masi-Manimba where it started
    15,874 ha reached on 22 Jul
    1.1 %

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

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area20 ha
Residents≈ 2,200

Inside the perimeter there were about 20 hectares of built-up land and about 2,200 residents (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
22 Jul 34.1 °C 29 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
23 Jul 32.0 °C 33 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
24 Jul 32.0 °C 38 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
25 Jul 32.5 °C 39 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
26 Jul 32.1 °C 38 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
27 Jul 30.2 °C 47 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
28 Jul 31.8 °C 37 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
29 Jul 32.6 °C 35 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
30 Jul 33.3 °C 35 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
31 Jul 33.4 °C 31 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
1 Aug 32.6 °C 36 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
2 Aug 32.9 °C 38 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
3 Aug 32.5 °C 47 % 21 km/h 0.5 mm High 26
4 Aug 31.7 °C 46 % 24 km/h 0.3 mm High 26
5 Aug 30.5 °C 47 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
6 Aug 32.3 °C 41 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
7 Aug 31.8 °C 42 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
8 Aug 31.1 °C 45 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
9 Aug 34.2 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
10 Aug 31.7 °C 43 % 26 km/h 0.1 mm High 28
11 Aug 32.2 °C 45 % 23 km/h 0.2 mm High 28
12 Aug 31.9 °C 45 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
13 Aug 32.6 °C 41 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
14 Aug 31.4 °C 41 % 20 km/h 0.1 mm High 27
15 Aug 31.2 °C 49 % 23 km/h 0.3 mm High 24
16 Aug 34.1 °C 41 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
17 Aug 33.2 °C 46 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
18 Aug 33.4 °C 44 % 20 km/h 0.1 mm High 25
19 Aug 32.2 °C 49 % 28 km/h 0.3 mm High 27
20 Aug 32.3 °C 50 % 24 km/h 1.8 mm Low 10
21 Aug 35.0 °C 39 % 29 km/h 1.9 mm Moderate 14
22 Aug 30.0 °C 56 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
23 Aug 32.2 °C 49 % 27 km/h 7.2 mm Very low 4
24 Aug 31.2 °C 50 % 22 km/h 0.4 mm Low 10
25 Aug after 31.0 °C 53 % 23 km/h 1.4 mm Low 8

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 31.1, a minimum humidity of 29% and 18 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 17.

FWI at the start 31.1
Minimum humidity 29 %
Days without rain 18
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Masi-Manimba fire, June 2022
6,793 ha 8 days FWI 31.0 Min. humidity 26 % 19 km away, in 2022

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.7 mm on 21 Jun.

What happened to them

21 days
median duration
6,965 ha
median area
24 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.3 mm
rain at the end (median; 15 of 17 had it)

It was 2.3 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 34 days, against 21 days.

Only 1 of its 17 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 2 of 17, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.3 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

1.4 mmfirst rain
25 Augthe day after it ended
29km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 24 Aug, and on 25 Aug 1.4 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 15 of 17, with a median of 2.3 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 15 Jul 2020
After · 31 Aug 2020

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 · 814Every 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 Democratic Republic of the Congo

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Masi-Manimba fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 22 July 2020 to 24 August 2020 (34 days). The perimeter dates it from 29 July 2020 to 17 August 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 15,765 hectares (157.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Masi-Manimba (15,874 ha, 1.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.0 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 29 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Democratic Republic of the Congo (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 17. Their median duration was 21 days and their median area 6,965 ha; 24 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 1 of its 17 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 2 of 17, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.3 mm.

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

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 17 August 2020 → 24 August 2020.
  2. Start date: 29 July 2020 → 22 July 2020.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 29 July 2020 to 17 August 2020. 814 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). 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.