Calamity
HighWildfiresCalamity Score: 53

Wildfires near Kisangani

UbunduDR CongoNASA FIRMS (VIIRS)

Recorded by satellite 115 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.

No stronger detection stands among the 18 recorded within 20 km of this point since 12 May 2026 — 5 others scored the same. One more was recorded here in the fortnight before it.

What the source measured

NASA FIRMS (VIIRS) reported 33 fire pixels with a combined fire radiative power of 209 MW, at nominal confidence, 27 km from Kisangani.

The 33 pixels cover about 4.6 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 285,006 people live within 35 km of this point.

Wind from S at 6 km/h at 14:00 UTC, according to MET Norway.

Nearby, since 12 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 53 out of 100, at 74 % 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.

Event Data

TypeWildfires
SeverityHigh
Calamity Score (ours)53 / 100
Our confidence74%
Coordinates0.5028, 25.4282
Nearest CityKisangani (27 km)
Population Exposed285.0K within 35 km
Impact Tiersevere
Timestamp2026-05-12T11:25:00.000Z
Sourcehttps://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:24hrs;@25.428,0.503,9z

Score Breakdown

60
intensity
70
population
0
cascading
80
historical

Technical Details

Brightness354.4
Frp209.31
PixelCount33
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 near Kisangani?

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 53/100, near Kisangani (DR Congo), based on data from firms. Source: Calamity.live, a platform aggregating real-time data from 185 scientific monitoring sources.