Fire near Lusaka (ZM)

15.46°S, 28.15°E · first detected on 12 October at 16:29

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 12 October at 16:29 to 23 October at 01:18, that is 10 days, through 40 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 1,073 ha.

Detected extent: 1,073 ha
Cumulative power: 681 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 83 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 40
Estimated emissions: 3.3 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 12 October 2026 to 22 October 2026. An order-of-magnitude estimate from GFAS (ECMWF, Copernicus CAMS): it also counts neighbouring fires in the same cell. Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information (2026).

These four figures cover the polar orbits alone, the ones that measure an area. The pass table below also counts geostationary detections, more frequent but too coarse for geometry, and its power column sums a whole pass where the peak above is that of a single pixel.

“Detected extent” is not “burned area”: it is the union of the ground footprints of the satellite pixels, and a pixel counts in full (375 m for VIIRS, 1 km for MODIS) even when only a forest edge is burning. Compared with press figures it is in practice one and a half to three times the area reported. Detections taken at the edge of the scan swath, too coarse to measure anything at all, are excluded. These figures come from thermal detection and are not an official assessment: only the emergency services and the competent authorities are authoritative.

Replay how the fire spread

The map is framed on this fire's footprint and loads only its detections. The timeline below covers the period in which satellites saw it, from the first to the last detection, with twelve hours before and twenty-four after; the ticks on the bar mark the emergency services' announcements that fall within it. The cursor opens on the most powerful pass, and playback replays the whole fire in about thirty seconds. “1 h” shows what is burning within an hour of the chosen moment : the map then follows the power curve below and empties when it falls. “24 h” stacks twenty-four hours : a fire stays visible between two satellite passes, which come two to four times a day. Both are true, but they say different things.

How the radiative power evolved

One point per satellite pass: the sum of the fire radiative power measured over the fire. This is the curve that says whether the fire eased off or picked up again, which no cumulative figure shows. The window covers 13 days; beyond that, clustering would merge two successive fires in the same place.

Fire dynamics

Loading history…

Satellite passes in detail

Pass	Power summed over the pass	Detections	Sensor
23 October at 11:03	225 MW	4	Met12
23 October at 10:53	295 MW	4	Met12
23 October at 10:49	77 MW	1	Met9
23 October at 10:49	57 MW	1	Met10
23 October at 10:43	51 MW	2	Met12
23 October at 10:34	85 MW	1	Met9
23 October at 10:34	93 MW	1	Met10
23 October at 10:33	77 MW	2	Met12
23 October at 09:53	16 MW	1	Met12
23 October at 09:43	21 MW	1	Met12
23 October at 09:23	38 MW	2	Met12
23 October at 09:13	168 MW	4	Met12
23 October at 08:53	272 MW	6	Met12
23 October at 08:49	1,148 MW	4	Met10
23 October at 08:49	1,480 MW	6	Met9
23 October at 08:43	273 MW	6	Met12
23 October at 01:18	1 MW	1	N20
22 October at 18:13	14 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 18:05	173 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 18:04	95 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 18:03	92 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 17:53	144 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 17:50	54 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 17:49	507 MW	4	Met10
22 October at 17:43	44 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 15:23	15 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 15:13	43 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 14:34	198 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 14:33	120 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 14:23	421 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 14:13	81 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 14:10	51 MW	3	N20
22 October at 13:49	17 MW	1	N
22 October at 13:15	11 MW	1	N21
22 October at 11:04	84 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 11:04	131 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 11:03	33 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 10:53	782 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 10:49	334 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 10:49	413 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 10:43	127 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 10:34	119 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 10:34	71 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 10:33	246 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 10:23	11 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 09:04	126 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 09:03	93 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 08:53	28 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 08:49	44 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 08:49	76 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 08:43	96 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 08:42	181 MW	4	Terra
22 October at 08:34	675 MW	5	Met9
22 October at 08:34	845 MW	6	Met10
22 October at 08:33	285 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 23:23	27 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 23:13	394 MW	6	Met12
20 October at 23:03	146 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 22:53	110 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 14:53	26 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 14:27	18 MW	2	N
20 October at 13:53	114 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 13:49	96 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 13:49	145 MW	5	N21
20 October at 13:43	107 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 13:33	19 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 13:08	12 MW	3	N20
20 October at 12:43	59 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 12:23	77 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 12:19	100 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 12:19	170 MW	2	Met10
20 October at 10:13	12 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 01:18	5 MW	2	N21
20 October at 00:33	6 MW	2	N20
18 October at 13:45	19 MW	2	N20
18 October at 13:25	14 MW	1	N
18 October at 12:47	14 MW	1	N21
16 October at 14:21	10 MW	1	N20
16 October at 03:34	6 MW	1	Aqua
16 October at 01:50	8 MW	5	N20
16 October at 01:29	8 MW	4	N
16 October at 00:54	6 MW	4	N21
14 October at 16:10	47 MW	3	Aqua
14 October at 14:04	33 MW	3	N21
14 October at 13:19	156 MW	7	N20
14 October at 13:00	31 MW	3	N
12 October at 16:29	103 MW	2	Aqua

8 other fires near Lusaka (ZM)

Separate fires, apart in time or in space, not pieces of this one. A single municipality can have several over one summer, and a forest massif often covers more than a hundred square kilometres.

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