Fire near Zaïre (AO)

6.37°S, 12.47°E · first detected on 12 October at 14:44

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 12 October at 14:44 to 21 October at 02:37, that is 8 days, through 252 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 5,203 ha.

Detected extent: 5,203 ha
Cumulative power: 3,411 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 151 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 252
Estimated emissions: 6.5 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 12 October 2026 to 21 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 11 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
21 October at 17:34	24 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 02:37	1 MW	1	N21
20 October at 19:04	16 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 18:54	39 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 18:44	22 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 18:34	36 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 18:24	79 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 18:14	128 MW	6	Met12
20 October at 18:04	163 MW	7	Met12
20 October at 17:54	37 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 17:44	56 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 17:34	54 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 17:24	96 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 17:14	156 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 17:04	214 MW	6	Met12
20 October at 16:54	243 MW	9	Met12
20 October at 16:44	310 MW	8	Met12
20 October at 16:42	353 MW	12	Aqua
20 October at 16:34	192 MW	6	Met12
20 October at 16:24	196 MW	6	Met12
20 October at 16:14	358 MW	12	Met12
20 October at 16:04	338 MW	12	Met12
20 October at 15:54	269 MW	10	Met12
20 October at 15:44	168 MW	6	Met12
20 October at 15:34	165 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 15:24	228 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 15:14	125 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 15:04	208 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 14:54	246 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 14:49	943 MW	61	N20
20 October at 14:44	307 MW	6	Met12
20 October at 14:34	346 MW	7	Met12
20 October at 14:32	586 MW	53	N
20 October at 14:24	287 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 14:14	338 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 14:04	498 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 13:54	529 MW	7	Met12
20 October at 13:53	184 MW	19	N21
20 October at 13:44	314 MW	7	Met12
20 October at 13:34	74 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 13:24	16 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 13:04	192 MW	4	Met12
19 October at 18:54	10 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 18:44	34 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 18:34	50 MW	4	Met12
19 October at 18:24	57 MW	4	Met12
19 October at 18:14	71 MW	4	Met12
19 October at 18:04	68 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 17:54	156 MW	5	Met12
19 October at 17:44	180 MW	7	Met12
19 October at 17:34	294 MW	9	Met12
19 October at 17:24	361 MW	10	Met12
19 October at 17:14	353 MW	11	Met12
19 October at 17:04	382 MW	11	Met12
19 October at 16:54	433 MW	10	Met12
19 October at 16:44	647 MW	12	Met12
19 October at 16:34	553 MW	11	Met12
19 October at 16:24	571 MW	10	Met12
19 October at 16:14	460 MW	9	Met12
19 October at 16:04	372 MW	8	Met12
19 October at 15:54	215 MW	6	Met12
19 October at 15:44	485 MW	8	Met12
19 October at 15:34	230 MW	5	Met12
19 October at 15:24	357 MW	7	Met12
19 October at 15:14	237 MW	6	Met12
19 October at 15:10	613 MW	41	N20
19 October at 15:04	142 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 14:51	34 MW	9	N
19 October at 14:44	14 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 14:14	108 MW	8	N21
19 October at 14:14	29 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 14:04	82 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 13:54	178 MW	4	Met12
19 October at 13:34	42 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 13:24	69 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 13:14	68 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 13:04	51 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 12:44	11 MW	1	Met12
18 October at 15:27	60 MW	9	N20
18 October at 15:08	40 MW	4	N
18 October at 14:32	16 MW	2	N21
16 October at 15:10	31 MW	1	N21
13 October at 15:23	10 MW	2	N20
13 October at 15:01	4 MW	1	N
12 October at 15:23	358 MW	24	N
12 October at 14:44	92 MW	8	N21

8 other fires near Zaïre (AO)

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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