Tsumkwe fire, 25 August 2018 Tsumkwe
The fire started on 25 August 2018 in Tsumkwe, Namibia, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,816 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 88th largest in Otjozondjupa since 2016 (of 212 with a page). Number 31 in Namibia in 2018, of 83.
- Burnt area
- 3,816ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 10days
- 25 Aug 2018 – 3 Sept 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- constituencies
- Started on
- 25 Aug
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 109
- in a single hotspot: 61 MW
- Danger at start
- 50
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.3GW
- 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
-
Tsumkwe where it started3,842 ha reached on 25 Aug0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Aug | 32.7 °C | 14 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 26 Aug | 32.2 °C | 13 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 27 Aug | 24.7 °C | 10 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 28 Aug | 25.0 °C | 6 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 29 Aug | 29.5 °C | 13 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 30 Aug | 30.1 °C | 19 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 31 Aug | 31.0 °C | 14 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 1 Sept | 31.3 °C | 12 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 2 Sept | 32.0 °C | 10 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 3 Sept | 30.0 °C | 14 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 4 Sept after | 33.3 °C | 11 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 5 Sept after | 33.9 °C | 13 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 6 Sept after | 33.9 °C | 14 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 7 Sept after | 27.2 °C | 18 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 8 Sept after | 22.7 °C | 15 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 9 Sept after | 23.1 °C | 10 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 10 Sept after | 26.0 °C | 7 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 11 Sept after | 29.7 °C | 7 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 12 Sept after | 32.0 °C | 8 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 13 Sept after | 32.5 °C | 8 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
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 · 109Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 4,329 haTsumkwe23 September 2022 · 6 days · 5 km away
- 6,699 haNgamiland West29 September 2020 · 3 days · 29 km away
- 2,820 haNgamiland West28 September 2020 · 3 days · 33 km away
- 3,998 haTsumkwe3 October 2025 · 4 days · 36 km away
- 3,565 haNgamiland West1 October 2016 · 6 days · 38 km away
- 6,229 haNgamiland West29 September 2018 · 15 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Tsumkwe fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 August 2018 and 3 September 2018: 10 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 3,816 hectares (38.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Tsumkwe (3,842 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.7 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Namibia (OCHA COD-AB). 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 OCHA COD-AB (Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA)) (Creative Commons Attribution for Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY-IGO)). 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.