Calamity
criticalFireCalamity Score: 80

Major Wildfire

3h agoMbuji-MayiDR CongoSource: firms

72 fire pixels detected · FRP: 518 MW · ~10.1 km²

Geographic Context

This fire event occurred near Mbuji-Mayi (approximately 22 km away) in DR Congo, an area that experiences a range of natural hazards. An estimated 1.2M people live within 50 km of the event location, placing this in the "catastrophic" population impact tier.

Event Assessment

This event is a large-scale wildfire with a fire radiative power (FRP) of 518 MW, indicating extreme heat output and rapid fire spread. Calamity.live has classified it as "critical" severity with a severity value of 100. The computed Calamity Score is 80 out of 100, indicating a significant event requiring close monitoring. The primary scoring components are: population (100), intensity (80), cascading (70). Data for this event was sourced from firms, one of the 250 scientific monitoring sources aggregated by Calamity.live.

Regional Monitoring Context

DR Congo has a documented history of fire events. Wildfire activity in the region is monitored through NASA FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System), which provides near-real-time active fire data from MODIS and VIIRS satellites. Fire behavior is influenced by vegetation type, moisture content, wind patterns, and terrain — all factors that determine whether an initial ignition becomes a major event.

Cascade Risk Analysis

This event may trigger secondary hazards through cascade effects. Cascade detection is an automated process that evaluates how primary disasters can trigger secondary events — for example, earthquakes triggering landslides, or volcanic eruptions causing lahars and pyroclastic flows. These secondary hazards can sometimes pose a greater threat than the initial event, particularly in mountainous terrain or densely populated areas.

Event Data

TypeFire
Severitycritical
Severity Value100
Calamity Score80 / 100
Confidence84%
Coordinates-5.9775, 23.6980
Nearest CityMbuji-Mayi (22 km)
Population Exposed1.2M within 50 km
Impact Tiercatastrophic
Timestamp2026-05-29T12:46:00.000Z

Score Breakdown

80
intensity
100
population
70
cascading
40
historical

Technical Details

Brightness367
Frp517.5799999999999
PixelCount72
Confidencehigh
Area Km210.080000000000002

Cascade Risks

cascade

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.

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

Share:XLinkedIn

Calamity.live data shows a fire event with CalamityScore 80/100, near Mbuji-Mayi (DR Congo), based on data from firms. Source: Calamity.live, a platform aggregating real-time data from 207 scientific monitoring sources.