Skip to content
worldfires
ZM · Zambia · →

Nsama fire, August 2018 Nsama, Mporokoso

Out · last detection 22 Aug 2018, 12:10 UTC

The fire started on 4 August 2018 in Nsama, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,931 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 118th largest in Northern since 2016 (of 628 with a page). Number 38 in Zambia in 2018, of 204.

Burnt area
7,931ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
18days
4 Aug 2018 – 21 Aug 2018
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
4 Aug
2018
Heat detections
379
in a single hotspot: 130 MW
Danger at start
46
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
4.7GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

22 Aug 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 4 Aug21 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

45678910111213141516171819202122

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

The weather it burned in

31°high
41km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

80% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,787 ha in 2016, 5,791 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,371 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Nsama where it started
    5,292 ha reached on 2 Aug
    0.7 %
  2. Mporokoso
    2,694 ha reached on 3 Aug
    0.6 %

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)
4 Aug 29.3 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
5 Aug 28.7 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Aug 29.6 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
7 Aug 30.0 °C 15 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
8 Aug 30.6 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
9 Aug 30.9 °C 10 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
10 Aug 29.3 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
11 Aug 29.3 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
12 Aug 28.0 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
13 Aug 27.5 °C 23 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
14 Aug 27.2 °C 25 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
15 Aug 27.8 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
16 Aug 27.6 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
17 Aug 28.3 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
18 Aug 29.4 °C 15 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
19 Aug 28.3 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
20 Aug 28.4 °C 22 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
21 Aug 27.8 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Aug after 29.2 °C 23 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
23 Aug after 29.9 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
24 Aug after 26.7 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
25 Aug after 28.1 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.1 mm High 38
26 Aug after 28.8 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
27 Aug after 29.8 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
28 Aug after 29.6 °C 19 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
29 Aug after 27.4 °C 23 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
30 Aug after 27.4 °C 23 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
31 Aug after 27.9 °C 22 % 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.

Before · 28 Jul 2018
After · 28 Aug 2018

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 · 379Every 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 Nsama fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 4 August 2018 and 21 August 2018: 18 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 7,931 hectares (79.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Nsama (5,292 ha, 0.7 %); Mporokoso (2,694 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 30.9 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, 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.

Report an error
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

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.