Cambulo fire, 23 July 2019 Cambulo
The fire started on 23 July 2019 in Cambulo, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,229 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 237th largest in Lunda Norte since 2016 (of 411 with a page). Number 129 in Angola in 2019, of 207.
- Burnt area
- 6,229ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 23 Jul 2019 – 30 Jul 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 23 Jul
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 237
- in a single hotspot: 77 MW
- Danger at start
- 44
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.8GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 54 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.5 mm on 3 Aug.
This area had burned before
78% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,365 ha in 2016, 2,866 ha in 2017, 3,406 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,835 ha that had burned before.
- 3,372 ha Cambulo fire, July 2018 6,148 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,779 ha Cambulo fire, June 2016 5,276 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 84 ha Saurimo fire, July 2017 22,834 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Cambulo where it started6,278 ha reached on 22 Jul0.6 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Jul | 32.0 °C | 17 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 24 Jul | 31.9 °C | 14 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 25 Jul | 32.8 °C | 17 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 26 Jul | 32.4 °C | 13 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 27 Jul | 31.8 °C | 14 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 28 Jul | 31.5 °C | 15 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 29 Jul | 31.7 °C | 18 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 30 Jul | 32.5 °C | 16 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 31 Jul after | 32.5 °C | 16 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 1 Aug after | 33.1 °C | 15 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 2 Aug after | 31.3 °C | 15 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 3 Aug after | 29.6 °C | 35 % | 34 km/h | 2.5 mm | Moderate 15 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · 237Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Cambulo fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 July 2019 and 30 July 2019: 8 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 6,229 hectares (62.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Cambulo (6,278 ha, 0.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.8 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, class Very high.
- 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.
Report an error
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.