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Wildfires in Zambia
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-11 05:23 UTC
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Regions
- Central299 fires
- Copperbelt116 fires
- Eastern111 fires
- Luapula236 fires
- Lusaka60 fires
- Muchinga469 fires
- Northern395 fires
- Northwestern284 fires
- Southern162 fires
- Western272 fires
13 fires
Nothing matches.
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Fire history, 2012–2025
Detected · VIIRS S-NPP 375 m · 0.01° cells (~1.1 km) · complete years 2012–2025 · built 2026-09-21
Between 2012 and 2025, VIIRS detected fire in 733,020 km² of Zambia at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 445,810 km², ranking 5th of 200 countries.
Year by year
Detected area per year, km². Area of 0.01° cells with at least one detection in the year.
The busiest year was 2013, with 476,240 km² detected; the quietest was 2024, with 399,160 km². The 2021–2025 average is 9.3% lower than the 2012–2016 average.
Through the year
Share of all fire-days 2012–2025 by month. A fire-day is one cell with a detection on one day.
July, August and September together hold 74% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 25 August 2017, with detections in 11,762 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 733,020 km² with at least one detection, 96% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 13,770 | 1.9% |
| 2 years | 16,940 | 2.3% |
| 3 to 5 years | 92,160 | 13% |
| 6 to 10 years | 400,790 | 55% |
| 11 years or more | 209,370 | 29% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -12.25, 26.75 and holds 0.7% of the country's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 470,230 | 579,706 |
| 2013 | 476,240 | 595,326 |
| 2014 | 452,460 | 553,164 |
| 2015 | 474,840 | 601,968 |
| 2016 | 466,900 | 591,730 |
| 2017 | 445,200 | 543,498 |
| 2018 | 450,370 | 553,651 |
| 2019 | 459,050 | 585,255 |
| 2020 | 423,340 | 520,506 |
| 2021 | 433,600 | 529,311 |
| 2022 | 408,790 | 494,889 |
| 2023 | 451,020 | 566,431 |
| 2024 | 399,160 | 502,287 |
| 2025 | 430,110 | 554,950 |
Nearby countries
- Democratic Republic of the Congo898,730 km² in an average year
- Angola616,940 km² in an average year
- Mozambique404,050 km² in an average year
- Central African Republic340,550 km² in an average year
- South Sudan321,060 km² in an average year
- Tanzania263,100 km² in an average year
- How these figures are madeDetected area, cells, and the single-satellite record.
Detected area counts every 0.01° cell with at least one VIIRS detection, so a small fire counts as a whole cell and a fire missed by cloud or between passes is absent. Borders: Natural Earth 1:10m. 2012 begins on 20 January.
Nearby countries
- Zimbabwe702 km
- Malawi760 km
- Botswana932 km
- Namibia1,003 km
- Angola1,040 km
- Democratic Republic of the Congo1,053 km
What sits behind each of these fires
Attached to every fire in the list above, and redrawn hourly.
