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AO · Angola · →

Calai fire, 24 August 2017 Calai

Out · last detection 10 Sept 2017, 11:56 UTC

The fire started on 24 August 2017 in Calai, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 26,080 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 26th largest in Cuando Cubango since 2016 (of 659 with a page). Number 2 in Angola in 2017, of 158.

Burnt area
26,080ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
17days
24 Aug 2017 – 9 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
24 Aug
2017
Heat detections
941
in a single hotspot: 194 MW
Danger at start
49
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
11.1GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

10 Sept 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 24 Aug9 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

242526272829303112345678910

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
56km/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

10% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,658 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Calai where it started
    26,225 ha reached on 24 Aug
    3.3 %

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)
24 Aug 33.2 °C 9 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
25 Aug 33.0 °C 10 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
26 Aug 33.2 °C 10 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
27 Aug 33.6 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
28 Aug 32.3 °C 12 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 70
29 Aug 32.2 °C 14 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
30 Aug 33.2 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
31 Aug 32.6 °C 12 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
1 Sept 33.7 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
2 Sept 33.9 °C 11 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
3 Sept 32.0 °C 13 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
4 Sept 30.6 °C 18 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
5 Sept 32.2 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
6 Sept 33.5 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
7 Sept 33.9 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
8 Sept 34.2 °C 11 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
9 Sept 34.1 °C 11 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
10 Sept after 34.4 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
11 Sept after 34.2 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
12 Sept after 34.2 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
13 Sept after 34.4 °C 13 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
14 Sept after 35.2 °C 11 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
15 Sept after 34.7 °C 10 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
16 Sept after 35.8 °C 8 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
17 Sept after 36.4 °C 8 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
18 Sept after 36.7 °C 9 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
19 Sept after 36.4 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
20 Sept after 35.8 °C 13 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
21 Sept after 35.3 °C 14 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
22 Sept after 35.1 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 17 Aug 2017
After · 16 Sept 2017

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 · 941Every 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 Calai fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 24 August 2017 and 9 September 2017: 17 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 26,080 hectares (260.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Calai (26,225 ha, 3.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.4 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 56 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 70, class Very 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.