How long did the Rufunsa fire last?

GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 1 September 2016 and 2 October 2016: 32 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 15,943 hectares (159.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 3 municipalities: Rufunsa (7,379 ha, 0.8 %); Kafue (7,282 ha, 1.6 %); Luangwa (1,392 ha, 0.4 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 34.4 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 57 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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.

ZM · Zambia · 2016-09-01 → 2016-10-02

Rufunsa fire, 1 September 2016 Rufunsa, Kafue, Luangwa

Out · last detection 3 Oct 2016, 12:09 UTC

The fire started on 1 September 2016 in Rufunsa, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 32 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 15,943 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 4th largest in Lusaka since 2016 (of 77 with a page). Number 22 in Zambia in 2016, of 246.

Burnt area: 15,943ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 32days; 1 Sept 2016 – 2 Oct 2016
Municipalities hit: 3; districts
Started on: 1 Sept; 2016
Heat detections: 617; in a single hotspot: 44 MW
Danger at start: 32; High · FWI index
Energy released: 2.5GW; sum of detected power

Play back 3 Oct 2016

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 1 Sept2 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930123

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

The weather it burned in

34°high

57km/h · peak gust

18%lowest humidity

It had gone 48 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

Rufunsa where it started

7,379 ha reached on 1 Sept

0.8 %
Kafue

7,282 ha reached on 5 Sept

1.6 %
Luangwa

1,392 ha reached on 6 Sept

0.4 %

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)
1 Sept	26.3 °C	39 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
2 Sept	25.4 °C	40 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	High 31
3 Sept	26.2 °C	35 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
4 Sept	28.1 °C	36 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
5 Sept	28.4 °C	38 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
6 Sept	29.6 °C	29 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
7 Sept	30.1 °C	27 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
8 Sept	31.0 °C	29 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
9 Sept	32.8 °C	29 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
10 Sept	32.1 °C	22 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
11 Sept	29.9 °C	36 %	52 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
12 Sept	29.5 °C	38 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
13 Sept	30.9 °C	31 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
14 Sept	30.1 °C	29 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
15 Sept	30.9 °C	35 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
16 Sept	32.7 °C	28 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
17 Sept	34.3 °C	24 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
18 Sept	33.9 °C	26 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
19 Sept	30.9 °C	29 %	54 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 47
20 Sept	28.5 °C	40 %	57 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
21 Sept	29.3 °C	34 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
22 Sept	31.7 °C	27 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
23 Sept	32.9 °C	21 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
24 Sept	34.3 °C	20 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
25 Sept	33.6 °C	18 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
26 Sept	32.1 °C	26 %	52 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 50
27 Sept	32.3 °C	27 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
28 Sept	33.5 °C	24 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
29 Sept	34.3 °C	20 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
30 Sept	33.1 °C	29 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 47
1 Oct	34.4 °C	24 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
2 Oct	34.2 °C	24 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
3 Oct after	30.2 °C	33 %	50 km/h	0.3 mm	Very high 43
4 Oct after	28.7 °C	39 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
5 Oct after	29.4 °C	34 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
6 Oct after	32.9 °C	25 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
7 Oct after	35.0 °C	17 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
8 Oct after	35.3 °C	19 %	52 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 53
9 Oct after	34.7 °C	24 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
10 Oct after	35.8 °C	22 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 51
11 Oct after	33.5 °C	29 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
12 Oct after	35.4 °C	20 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 25 Aug 2016

After · 9 Oct 2016

Before After

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 · 617Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Zambia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Rufunsa fire last?: GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 1 September 2016 and 2 October 2016: 32 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 15,943 hectares (159.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 3 municipalities: Rufunsa (7,379 ha, 0.8 %); Kafue (7,282 ha, 1.6 %); Luangwa (1,392 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 34.4 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 57 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

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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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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.

Where it burned