161 fire pixels detected · FRP: 879 MW · ~22.5 km²
Geographic Context
This fire event occurred near Tshikapa (approximately 2 km away) in DR Congo, an area that experiences a range of natural hazards. An estimated 604.0K people live within 50 km of the event location, placing this in the "catastrophic" population impact tier.
Event Assessment
This event is a large-scale wildfire with a fire radiative power (FRP) of 879 MW, indicating extreme heat output and rapid fire spread. Calamity.live has classified it as "critical" severity with a severity value of 100. The computed Calamity Score is 80 out of 100, indicating a significant event requiring close monitoring. The primary scoring components are: population (85), intensity (80), historical (80). Data for this event was sourced from firms, one of the 250 scientific monitoring sources aggregated by Calamity.live.
Regional Monitoring Context
DR Congo has a documented history of fire events. Wildfire activity in the region is monitored through NASA FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System), which provides near-real-time active fire data from MODIS and VIIRS satellites. Fire behavior is influenced by vegetation type, moisture content, wind patterns, and terrain — all factors that determine whether an initial ignition becomes a major event.
Cascade Risk Analysis
This event may trigger secondary hazards through cascade effects. Cascade detection is an automated process that evaluates how primary disasters can trigger secondary events — for example, earthquakes triggering landslides, or volcanic eruptions causing lahars and pyroclastic flows. These secondary hazards can sometimes pose a greater threat than the initial event, particularly in mountainous terrain or densely populated areas.
Event Data
| Type | Fire |
| Severity | critical |
| Severity Value | 100 |
| Calamity Score | 80 / 100 |
| Confidence | 84% |
| Coordinates | -6.4014, 20.8111 |
| Nearest City | Tshikapa (2 km) |
| Population Exposed | 604.0K within 50 km |
| Impact Tier | catastrophic |
| Timestamp | 2026-05-15T12:08:00.000Z |
Score Breakdown
Technical Details
| Brightness | 349.42 |
| Frp | 878.5500000000001 |
| PixelCount | 161 |
| Confidence | nominal |
| Area Km2 | 22.540000000000003 |
Cascade Risks
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.
This data is aggregated algorithmically from scientific sources. Not a replacement for official emergency warnings.
Calamity.live data shows a fire event with CalamityScore 80/100, near Tshikapa (DR Congo), based on data from firms. Source: Calamity.live, a platform aggregating real-time data from 207 scientific monitoring sources.