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Bundas fire, 13 August 2016 Bundas

Out · last detection 11 Sept 2016, 12:22 UTC

The fire started on 13 August 2016 in Bundas, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 30 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,556 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 31th largest in Moxico since 2016 (of 108 with a page). Number 50 in Angola in 2016, of 138.

Burnt area
7,556ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
30days
13 Aug 2016 – 11 Sept 2016
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
13 Aug
2016
Heat detections
296
in a single hotspot: 62 MW
Danger at start
39
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
2.1GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

11 Sept 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 Aug11 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

1314151617181920212223242526273031123567891011

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

36°high
50km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Bundas where it started
    7,613 ha reached on 9 Aug
    0.2 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
13 Aug 30.7 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
14 Aug 31.2 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
15 Aug 31.6 °C 15 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
16 Aug 30.8 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
17 Aug 29.8 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
18 Aug 29.7 °C 21 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
19 Aug 31.3 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
20 Aug 32.6 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
21 Aug 32.8 °C 13 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
22 Aug 33.0 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
23 Aug 32.5 °C 13 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
24 Aug 31.3 °C 14 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
25 Aug 29.1 °C 10 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
26 Aug 29.1 °C 9 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
27 Aug 29.8 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
28 Aug 30.1 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
29 Aug 29.5 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
30 Aug 29.7 °C 21 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
31 Aug 30.3 °C 19 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Sept 30.2 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 Sept 30.1 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
3 Sept 29.5 °C 20 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Sept 31.7 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
5 Sept 32.9 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Sept 34.5 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
7 Sept 34.9 °C 12 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
8 Sept 35.3 °C 13 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
9 Sept 35.6 °C 11 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
10 Sept 35.4 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
11 Sept 34.6 °C 13 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
12 Sept after 34.9 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
13 Sept after 34.0 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
14 Sept after 34.2 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
15 Sept after 34.7 °C 13 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
16 Sept after 35.3 °C 12 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
17 Sept after 34.9 °C 12 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
18 Sept after 32.3 °C 12 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
19 Sept after 33.6 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
20 Sept after 33.8 °C 15 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
21 Sept after 33.3 °C 15 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 6 Aug 2016
After · 18 Sept 2016

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 296Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Angola ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Bundas fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 13 August 2016 and 11 September 2016: 30 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 7,556 hectares (75.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Bundas (7,613 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.6 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 59, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Angola (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Satellite cross-check

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

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Where this data comes from

The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Public Domain). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.