Rufunsa fire, 16 September 2016 Rufunsa, Nyimba
The fire started on 16 September 2016 in Rufunsa, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,646 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 48th largest in Lusaka since 2016 (of 77 with a page). Number 172 in Zambia in 2016, of 246.
The power measured by the satellite is low (23.3 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 3,646ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 16 Sept 2016 – 19 Sept 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 16 Sept
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 114
- in a single hotspot: 23 MW
- Danger at start
- 41
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 611MW
- 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
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Rufunsa where it started3,661 ha reached on 16 Sept0.4 %
-
0 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Sept | 35.5 °C | 21 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 17 Sept | 36.8 °C | 16 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 18 Sept | 37.0 °C | 22 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 19 Sept | 34.6 °C | 23 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 20 Sept after | 32.1 °C | 30 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 21 Sept after | 32.8 °C | 25 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 22 Sept after | 34.2 °C | 23 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 23 Sept after | 35.3 °C | 19 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 24 Sept after | 36.6 °C | 17 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 25 Sept after | 36.7 °C | 13 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 26 Sept after | 36.0 °C | 18 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 27 Sept after | 34.8 °C | 20 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 28 Sept after | 36.2 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 29 Sept after | 37.2 °C | 18 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
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 · 114Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 12,248 haNyimba29 September 2022 · 13 days · 13 km away
- 8,486 haRufunsa 16 October 2026 · 8 days · 15 km away
- 6,613 haNyimbaOctober 2021 · 15 days · 23 km away
- 12,166 haNyimba13 September 2025 · 14 days · 28 km away
- 28,146 haNyimba1 September 2016 · 16 days · 31 km away
- 26,082 haNyimba18 September 2022 · 24 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Rufunsa fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 September 2016 and 19 September 2016: 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 3,646 hectares (36.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Rufunsa (3,661 ha, 0.4 %); Nyimba (0 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.0 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 51, 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
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.