Skip to content
worldfires
ZM · Zambia · →

Sioma fire, 14 September 2018 Sioma, Sesheke

Out · last detection 26 Sept 2018, 12:53 UTC

The fire started on 14 September 2018 in Sioma, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 11,042 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 7th largest in Western since 2016 (of 162 with a page). Number 23 in Zambia in 2018, of 204.

Burnt area
11,042ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
12days
14 Sept 2018 – 25 Sept 2018
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
14 Sept
2018
Heat detections
579
in a single hotspot: 90 MW
Danger at start
47
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
5.7GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

26 Sept 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Sept25 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

14151617181920212223242526

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
45km/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

37% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,825 ha in 2016, 1,327 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

  1. Sioma where it started
    6,985 ha reached on 7 Sept
    0.8 %
  2. Sesheke
    4,144 ha reached on 14 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)
14 Sept 34.4 °C 12 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
15 Sept 35.0 °C 12 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
16 Sept 36.1 °C 10 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
17 Sept 36.5 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
18 Sept 36.8 °C 12 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
19 Sept 36.2 °C 11 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
20 Sept 35.6 °C 11 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
21 Sept 35.3 °C 13 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
22 Sept 34.3 °C 18 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
23 Sept 34.7 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
24 Sept 34.8 °C 17 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
25 Sept 35.2 °C 21 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
26 Sept after 36.4 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
27 Sept after 36.2 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
28 Sept after 36.4 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
29 Sept after 35.5 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
30 Sept after 33.5 °C 22 % 54 km/h 0.3 mm Extreme 62
1 Oct after 30.7 °C 28 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
2 Oct after 32.3 °C 17 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
3 Oct after 33.7 °C 9 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
4 Oct after 35.2 °C 10 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
5 Oct after 34.0 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 7 Sept 2018
After · 2 Oct 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 · 579Every 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 Sioma fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 14 September 2018 and 25 September 2018: 12 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 11,042 hectares (110.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Sioma (6,985 ha, 0.8 %); Sesheke (4,144 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 62, 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.