Overall Green Forest fire in The Democratic Republic of Congo from 15 Aug 2026 00:00 UTC to 29 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 (85031 ha) in The Democratic Republic of Congo 15 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 1030748
Countries:	The Democratic Republic of Congo
Start Date - Last detection*:	15 Aug 2026 - 29 Aug 2026
Duration (days):	14
People affected:	19062 in the burned area
Burned area:	85031 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.

20 Aug 15:04 23 Aug 15:20 24 Aug 15:35 25 Aug 15:38 26 Aug 15:58 27 Aug 15:53 27 Aug 20:07 28 Aug 16:04 29 Aug 15:54 30 Aug 16:12

Impact Timeline

ID	Score	Population Affected	Burned Area (ha)	Last Update	Source
1	0.5	3347	10875	20 Aug 2026 14:03	GWIS
2	0.5	11145	50532	23 Aug 2026 14:01	GWIS
3	0.5	12194	53108	24 Aug 2026 14:01	GWIS
4	0.5	13860	62757	25 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS
5	0.5	14041	62776	26 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS
6	0.5	17350	75877	27 Aug 2026 14:01	GWIS
7	0.5	18463	82880	27 Aug 2026 18:01	GWIS
8	0.5	18446	83014	28 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS
9	0.5	19139	84851	29 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS
10	0.5	19062	85031	30 Aug 2026 14:02	GWIS

Fires Joined

This event includes other close identified fires:

Exposed population

The forest fire happened in The Democratic Republic of Congo , Region of Bandundu (population 5,092,178) .

Radius	Population
10 km	83000 people
5 km	59000 people
2 km	42000 people
1 km	37000 people
Burned Area	19000 people

Affected Provinces

Region Province	Country	Population
Bandundu	The Democratic Republic of Congo	5.1 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
Masi-Manimba	MSM	595	Civ.	Unpaved	No	3200	39 km
Lunkuni		483	Civ.	Unpaved	No	3200	103 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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