Calamity
criticalWildfireCalamity Score: 50

Wildfire in Zambia

ZambeziZambiaNASA FIRMS (VIIRS)

Recorded by satellite 69 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 8th strongest of the 57 detections recorded within 20 km of this point since 8 May 2026. The last comparable one was on 21 June 2026. 9 more were recorded here in the fortnight before it.

What the source measured

NASA FIRMS (VIIRS) reported 46 fire pixels with a combined fire radiative power of 656 MW, at high confidence, 48 km from Zambezi.

The 46 pixels cover about 6.4 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.

Nearby, since 8 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.

Event Data

TypeWildfire
Severitycritical
Calamity Score (ours)50 / 100
Our confidence64%
Coordinates-13.8640, 22.8074
Nearest CityZambezi (48 km)
Impact Tierminor
Timestamp2026-06-23T11:36:00.000Z
Sourcehttps://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:24hrs;@22.807,-13.864,9z

Score Breakdown

80
intensity
0
population
70
cascading
40
historical

Technical Details

Brightness367
Frp655.56
PixelCount46
Confidencehigh

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 10 February 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.

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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 188 scientific monitoring sources.