Samfya fire, August 2019 Samfya, Milengi
The fire started on 20 August 2019 in Samfya, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,046 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 213th largest in Luapula since 2016 (of 533 with a page). Number 68 in Zambia in 2019, of 243.
- Burnt area
- 6,046ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 20 Aug 2019 – 23 Aug 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 20 Aug
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 164
- in a single hotspot: 84 MW
- Danger at start
- 44
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.0GW
- 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
68% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,607 ha in 2016, 949 ha in 2017, 3,448 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,112 ha that had burned before.
- 2,101 ha Samfya fire, August 2018 21,038 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 322 ha Samfya fire, August 2017 9,864 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 124 ha Samfya fire, August 2016 11,697 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Samfya where it started3,496 ha reached on 20 Aug1.1 %
-
2,593 ha reached on 20 Aug0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Aug | 26.8 °C | 21 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 21 Aug | 26.0 °C | 20 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 22 Aug | 24.4 °C | 29 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 23 Aug | 25.4 °C | 28 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 24 Aug after | 27.8 °C | 27 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 25 Aug after | 28.8 °C | 31 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 26 Aug after | 29.9 °C | 28 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 27 Aug after | 31.3 °C | 26 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 28 Aug after | 31.2 °C | 20 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 29 Aug after | 31.6 °C | 18 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 30 Aug after | 30.8 °C | 21 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 31 Aug after | 31.4 °C | 23 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 1 Sept after | 33.3 °C | 17 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 2 Sept after | 32.4 °C | 23 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
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 · 164Every 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 Samfya fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 August 2019 and 23 August 2019: 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 6,046 hectares (60.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Samfya (3,496 ha, 1.1 %); Milengi (2,593 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 26.8 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 47, 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.