Rufunsa fire, September 2019 Rufunsa, Luangwa
The fire started on 15 September 2019 in Rufunsa, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 11,002 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 10th largest in Lusaka since 2016 (of 78 with a page). Number 33 in Zambia in 2019, of 243.
- Burnt area
- 11,002ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 17days
- 15 Sept 2019 – 1 Oct 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 15 Sept
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 413
- in a single hotspot: 61 MW
- Danger at start
- 45
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.1GW
- 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. Rain came after the fire: 2.2 mm on 11 Oct.
This area had burned before
52% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,101 ha in 2016, 2,621 ha in 2017, 1,751 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,721 ha that had burned before.
- 2,621 ha Rufunsa fire, October 2017 12,878 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,012 ha Rufunsa fire, September 2018 23,797 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 222 ha Rufunsa fire, September 2016 15,943 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 148 ha Rufunsa fire, September 2016 3,354 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Rufunsa where it started10,983 ha reached on 14 Sept1.2 %
-
102 ha reached on 30 Sept0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Sept | 30.3 °C | 27 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 16 Sept | 28.9 °C | 36 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 17 Sept | 29.5 °C | 29 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 18 Sept | 28.7 °C | 24 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 19 Sept | 29.6 °C | 20 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 20 Sept | 28.2 °C | 30 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 21 Sept | 29.9 °C | 28 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 22 Sept | 31.8 °C | 26 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 23 Sept | 33.2 °C | 23 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 24 Sept | 32.1 °C | 25 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 25 Sept | 27.9 °C | 30 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 26 Sept | 21.2 °C | 39 % | 35 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 32 |
| 27 Sept | 24.9 °C | 26 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 28 Sept | 27.9 °C | 20 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 29 Sept | 31.7 °C | 16 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 30 Sept | 34.4 °C | 19 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 1 Oct | 35.6 °C | 21 % | 26 km/h | 1.1 mm | High 32 |
| 2 Oct after | 25.3 °C | 55 % | 51 km/h | 0.9 mm | High 23 |
| 3 Oct after | 22.3 °C | 63 % | 43 km/h | 0.7 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 4 Oct after | 28.0 °C | 46 % | 40 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 23 |
| 5 Oct after | 31.0 °C | 34 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 6 Oct after | 30.9 °C | 30 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 7 Oct after | 33.2 °C | 30 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 8 Oct after | 35.2 °C | 22 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 9 Oct after | 35.6 °C | 19 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 10 Oct after | 34.3 °C | 23 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 11 Oct after | 30.0 °C | 34 % | 59 km/h | 2.2 mm | High 29 |
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 · 413Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 15,689 haLuangwaOctober 2021 · 24 days · 5 km away
- 12,878 haRufunsa14 October 2017 · 6 days · 9 km away
- 23,797 haRufunsaSeptember 2018 · 28 days · 10 km away
- 15,943 haRufunsa1 September 2016 · 32 days · 16 km away
- 32,071 haKafueSeptember 2018 · 17 days · 18 km away
- 26,112 haRufunsa 13 October 2026 · 12 days · 25 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Rufunsa fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 September 2019 and 1 October 2019: 17 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 11,002 hectares (110.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Rufunsa (10,983 ha, 1.2 %); Luangwa (102 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.6 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, 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.