Overall Green Forest fire in The Democratic Republic of Congo from 17 Aug 2026 00:00 UTC to 01 Sep 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 (10013 ha) in The Democratic Republic of Congo 17 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 1031241
Countries:	The Democratic Republic of Congo
Start Date - Last detection*:	17 Aug 2026 - 01 Sep 2026
Duration (days):	15
People affected:	1828 in the burned area
Burned area:	10013 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.

27 Aug 19:39 29 Aug 15:36 30 Aug 15:43 31 Aug 15:53 01 Sep 12:19 01 Sep 21:56

Impact Timeline

ID	Score	Population Affected	Burned Area (ha)	Last Update	Source
1	0.5	1174	7136	27 Aug 2026 18:01	GWIS
2	0.5	1174	7342	29 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS
3	0.5	1313	7423	30 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS
4	0.5	1313	7559	31 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS
5	0.5	1313	8087	01 Sep 2026 10:01	GWIS
6	0.5	1828	10013	01 Sep 2026 18:02	GWIS

Fires Joined

This event includes other close identified fires:

Exposed population

The forest fire happened in The Democratic Republic of Congo , Region of Bas-Zaire (population 2,725,971) .

Radius	Population
10 km	43000 people
5 km	19000 people
2 km	11000 people
1 km	6400 people
Burned Area	1800 people

Affected Provinces

Region Province	Country	Population
Bas-Zaire	The Democratic Republic of Congo	2.7 million people
Bandundu	The Democratic Republic of Congo	5.1 million people
Uige	Angola	940000 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
Popokabaka		480	Civ.	Unpaved	No	3700	43 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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