Overall Green Forest fire in The Democratic Republic of Congo from 18 Aug 2026 00:00 UTC to 31 Aug 2026 00:00 UTC

GDACS is a cooperation framework between the United Nations, the European Commission and disaster managers worldwide to improve awareness, information exchange and coordination in the first phase after major sudden-onset disasters.

Forest Fire (18816 ha) in The Democratic Republic of Congo 18 Aug 2026

Event summary

This forest fire is expected to have a low humanitarian impact based on the burned area and the affected population and their vulnerability.

GDACS ID	WF 1030936
Countries:	The Democratic Republic of Congo
Start Date - Last detection*:	18 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026
Duration (days):	13
People affected:	432 in the burned area
Burned area:	18816 ha
More Info:	Global Wildfire Information System

*(Last detection of the thermal anomaly of the fire)

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS score click here.

Detailed event map. European Union, 2026. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

23 Aug 03:06 23 Aug 07:05 23 Aug 15:06 24 Aug 15:10 24 Aug 23:13 25 Aug 15:14 26 Aug 15:18 27 Aug 15:23 28 Aug 07:28 28 Aug 15:34 29 Aug 15:33 31 Aug 15:44 02 Sep 12:14

Impact Timeline

ID	Score	Population Affected	Burned Area (ha)	Last Update	Source
1	0.5	0	5385	23 Aug 2026 02:02	GWIS
2	0.5	0	5426	23 Aug 2026 06:01	GWIS
3	0.5	0	5428	23 Aug 2026 14:01	GWIS
4	0.5	0	5491	24 Aug 2026 14:01	GWIS
5	0.5	0	8600	24 Aug 2026 22:02	GWIS
6	0.5	0	8644	25 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS
7	0.5	28	10485	26 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS
8	0.5	28	11097	27 Aug 2026 14:01	GWIS
9	0.5	426	14878	28 Aug 2026 06:02	GWIS
10	0.5	426	14947	28 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS
11	0.5	432	18565	29 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS
12	0.5	432	18763	31 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS
13	0.5	432	18816	02 Sep 2026 10:01	GWIS

Fires Joined

This event includes other close identified fires:

Exposed population

The forest fire happened in The Democratic Republic of Congo , Region of Shaba (population 5,356,509) . The nearest places are Kabongo, and Mwanza.

Radius	Population
10 km	28000 people
5 km	15000 people
2 km	5000 people
1 km	4500 people
Burned Area	<1000 people

Affected Provinces

Region Province	Country	Population
Shaba	The Democratic Republic of Congo	5.4 million people

Critical infrastructure

Airports, ports, nuclear plants and hydrodams at risk, if affected, are listed below.

Airports

Name	IATA Code	Elevation (m)	Usage	Runway type	IFR	Runway Length (ft)	Distance
Sominka		630	Civ.	Unpaved	No	4900	99 km

Ports

Dams

Nuclear plants

More information

For a full list of available products related to this event, please refer to the GDACS Resources page.

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