Milengi fire, 16 August 2022 Milengi
The fire started on 16 August 2022 in Milengi, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,134 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 503th largest in Luapula since 2016 (of 533 with a page). Number 213 in Zambia in 2022, of 235.
- Burnt area
- 3,134ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 16 Aug 2022 – 19 Aug 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 16 Aug
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 89
- in a single hotspot: 232 MW
- Danger at start
- 45
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.6GW
- 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.
This area had burned before
98% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 568 ha in 2016, 1,355 ha in 2017, 2,005 ha in 2018, 1,032 ha in 2019, 254 ha in 2020, 1,355 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,081 ha that had burned before.
- 2,005 ha Milengi fire, August 2018 10,954 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,355 ha Milengi fire, August 2017 14,856 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,130 ha Milengi fire, August 2021 6,534 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 254 ha Milengi fire, August 2020 6,634 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 225 ha Milengi fire, August 2021 5,294 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 122 ha Milengi fire, August 2019 3,878 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 43 ha Milengi fire, August 2016 6,690 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 25 ha Milengi fire, August 2019 3,196 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Milengi where it started3,152 ha reached on 14 Aug0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Aug | 28.6 °C | 26 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 17 Aug | 27.5 °C | 31 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 18 Aug | 29.1 °C | 28 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 19 Aug | 30.5 °C | 26 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 20 Aug after | 31.1 °C | 23 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 21 Aug after | 31.2 °C | 22 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 22 Aug after | 28.0 °C | 29 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 23 Aug after | 26.7 °C | 34 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 24 Aug after | 28.1 °C | 32 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 25 Aug after | 27.8 °C | 28 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 26 Aug after | 28.6 °C | 29 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 27 Aug after | 29.4 °C | 21 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 28 Aug after | 28.7 °C | 23 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 29 Aug after | 29.1 °C | 28 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
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 · 89Every 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 Milengi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 August 2022 and 19 August 2022: 4 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 3,134 hectares (31.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Milengi (3,152 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.5 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, 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.