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Cazengo fire, September 2018 Cazengo, Golungo Alto

Out · last detection 3 Oct 2018, 12:24 UTC

The fire started on 25 September 2018 in Cazengo, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,903 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 8th largest in Cuanza Norte since 2016 (of 12 with a page). Number 46 in Angola in 2018, of 100.

Burnt area
6,903ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
25 Sept 2018 – 3 Oct 2018
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
25 Sept
2018
Heat detections
302
in a single hotspot: 132 MW
Danger at start
19
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
2.5GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

3 Oct 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 25 Sept3 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

25262729123

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

The weather it burned in

31°high
36km/h · peak gust
47%lowest humidity

It had gone 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.9 mm on 13 Oct.

This area had burned before

56% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,905 ha in 2016, 2,379 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,884 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Cazengo where it started
    5,018 ha reached on 18 Sept
    2.7 %
  2. Golungo Alto
    1,929 ha reached on 20 Sept
    1.0 %

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)
25 Sept 29.0 °C 47 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
26 Sept 31.3 °C 51 % 33 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 19
27 Sept 29.1 °C 56 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
28 Sept 28.1 °C 58 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
29 Sept 30.7 °C 50 % 34 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 18
30 Sept 29.7 °C 49 % 29 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 18
1 Oct 29.1 °C 53 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
2 Oct 27.5 °C 65 % 29 km/h 1.1 mm Low 10
3 Oct 30.5 °C 49 % 33 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 16
4 Oct after 26.9 °C 59 % 32 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 12
5 Oct after 31.9 °C 46 % 33 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 19
6 Oct after 28.9 °C 54 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
7 Oct after 29.0 °C 52 % 36 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 16
8 Oct after 28.7 °C 54 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
9 Oct after 31.1 °C 47 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 21
10 Oct after 29.0 °C 54 % 34 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 15
11 Oct after 26.9 °C 66 % 31 km/h 0.9 mm Low 10
12 Oct after 29.2 °C 49 % 35 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 19
13 Oct after 27.5 °C 54 % 31 km/h 1.9 mm Low 8

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 18 Sept 2018
After · 10 Oct 2018

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 · 302Every 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 Cazengo fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 September 2018 and 3 October 2018: 9 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 6,903 hectares (69.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Cazengo (5,018 ha, 2.7 %); Golungo Alto (1,929 ha, 1.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.3 °C, humidity dropped to 47 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 19, class Moderate.
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.