Calamity
CriticalWildfiresCalamity Score: 50

Wildfires in Zambia

MwenseZambiaNASA FIRMS (VIIRS)

Recorded by satellite 80 days ago.

A thermal anomaly is a snapshot of one satellite pass, not a record of a fire’s life: we cannot say whether it kept burning after that pass.

It is the 11th strongest of the 80 detections recorded within 20 km of this point since 26 May 2026. The last comparable one was on 12 June 2026. 14 more were recorded here in the fortnight before it.

What the source measured

NASA FIRMS (VIIRS) reported 87 fire pixels with a combined fire radiative power of 575 MW, at nominal confidence, 51 km from Mwansabombwe.

The 87 pixels cover about 12.2 km² — that is the footprint of the detection grid at 375 m resolution, not an estimate of how much land burned.

FIRMS does not report burned area, and neither do we.

Wind from SSE at 13 km/h at 09:00 UTC, according to MET Norway.

Nearby, since 26 May 2026

How we know

One source: NASA FIRMS (VIIRS). Not yet confirmed by a second, independent source.

Our own score for this event is 50 out of 100, at 64 % confidence.

The score is ours, computed from intensity, exposed population and local history — not the source’s.

Wind: MET Norway Locationforecast, CC BY 4.0.

Computed under scoring rules v1. Rows carrying other versions were judged by different rules and are not directly comparable.

Under rules v1–v3, Critical for a wildfire measured only the radiative power the satellite saw, not the people near it; since v4 (1 September 2026) it also requires exposed population. This page keeps the word it was published with.

Event Data

TypeWildfires
SeverityCritical
Calamity Score (ours)50 / 100
Our confidence64%
Coordinates-10.2501, 28.6040
Nearest CityMwansabombwe (51 km)
Impact Tierminor
Timestamp2026-06-13T11:23:00.000Z
Sourcehttps://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:24hrs;@28.604,-10.250,9z

Score Breakdown

80
intensity
0
population
70
cascading
40
historical

Technical Details

Brightness351.65
Frp575.43
PixelCount87
Confidencenominal

Cascade Risks

air quality emergency

Safety Information

If a wildfire is approaching: follow evacuation orders immediately. Do not wait to see the fire. Close all windows and doors, remove combustible materials from around your home, and have an emergency go-bag ready. Air quality can deteriorate rapidly even at distance from the fire front — monitor local air quality advisories.

Series begins 8 March 2026. Comparisons refer to that period only. Collection gap: 14-26 August 2026.

This data is aggregated algorithmically from scientific sources. Not a replacement for official emergency warnings.

Want to know when something happens in this area?

In the news nearby

A list of links found by GDELT for this place and this hazard in the last seven days. External, not ours: we have not read them and do not vouch for them.

GDELT did not answer when this page was rendered, so no news is listed.

GDELT Project · gdeltproject.org

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Calamity.live data shows a fire event with CalamityScore 50/100 (Zambia), based on data from firms. Source: Calamity.live, a platform aggregating real-time data from 185 scientific monitoring sources.