Calamity
CriticalWildfiresCalamity Score: 66

Wildfires in Congo - Kinshasa

LubaoDR CongoNASA FIRMS (VIIRS)

Recorded by satellite 92 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 74 detections recorded within 20 km of this point since 14 May 2026. The last comparable one was on 30 May 2026. 8 more were recorded here in the fortnight before it.

What the source measured

NASA FIRMS (VIIRS) reported 97 fire pixels with a combined fire radiative power of 728 MW, at high confidence, 34 km from Lubao.

The 97 pixels cover about 13.6 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.

An estimated 11,843 people live within 50 km of this point.

Wind from ENE at 4 km/h at 09:00 UTC, according to MET Norway.

Nearby, since 14 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 66 out of 100, at 84 % 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)66 / 100
Our confidence84%
Coordinates-5.1243, 25.9081
Nearest CityLubao (34 km)
Population Exposed11.8K within 50 km
Impact Tiersignificant
Timestamp2026-06-01T11:49:00.000Z
Sourcehttps://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:24hrs;@25.908,-5.124,9z

Score Breakdown

80
intensity
40
population
70
cascading
80
historical

Technical Details

Brightness367
Frp728.04
PixelCount97
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 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 66/100 (DR Congo), based on data from firms. Source: Calamity.live, a platform aggregating real-time data from 185 scientific monitoring sources.