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AO · Angola · –

Chipindo fire, July 2024 Cuvango, Chipindo

Out · last detection 21 Aug 2024, 12:29 UTC

The fire started on 27 July 2024 in Chipindo, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 26 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 8,820 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 14th largest in Huíla since 2016 (of 46 with a page). Number 39 in Angola in 2024, of 135.

Burnt area
8,820ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
26days
27 Jul 2024 – 21 Aug 2024
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
27 Jul
2024
Heat detections
523
in a single hotspot: 50 MW
Danger at start
55
Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
213MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 27 Jul21 Aug
21 Aug 2024

How it evolved, day by day

27 Jul 2024 · 62 MW · 7 28 Jul 2024 · 120 MW · 6 29 Jul 2024 · 191 MW · 17 30 Jul 2024 · 45 MW · 2 31 Jul 2024 · 7 MW · 3 1 Aug 2024 · 87 MW · 9 3 Aug 2024 · 101 MW · 14 4 Aug 2024 · 109 MW · 13 5 Aug 2024 · 368 MW · 42 6 Aug 2024 · 237 MW · 25 7 Aug 2024 · 753 MW · 69 8 Aug 2024 · 730 MW · 59 9 Aug 2024 · 651 MW · 71 10 Aug 2024 · 236 MW · 34 11 Aug 2024 · 62 MW · 6 12 Aug 2024 · 731 MW · 45 13 Aug 2024 · 501 MW · 48 14 Aug 2024 · 135 MW · 22 15 Aug 2024 · 32 MW · 9 16 Aug 2024 · 55 MW · 6 17 Aug 2024 · 41 MW · 2 18 Aug 2024 · 7 MW · 1 19 Aug 2024 · 43 MW · 8 20 Aug 2024 · 8 MW · 2 21 Aug 2024 · 5 MW · 3
27 Jul 1 Aug 7 Aug 12 Aug 17 Aug

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

The weather it burned in

32°high
47km/h · peak gust
7%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

77% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,053 ha in 2016, 4,144 ha in 2017, 4,089 ha in 2018, 657 ha in 2019, 1,180 ha in 2020, 114 ha in 2022, 2,693 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,835 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 5.6% of the area of London (88 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. 8,002 ha reached on 27 Jul
    0.8 %
  2. Chipindo where it started
    861 ha reached on 3 Aug
    0.2 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area 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)

Started with Very dry air: 41 % of the area in Angola 60 days without rain: 84 % of the area in Angola

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
27 Jul 30.6 °C 8 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
28 Jul 30.1 °C 9 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
29 Jul 29.9 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
30 Jul 29.2 °C 16 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
31 Jul 28.5 °C 18 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
1 Aug 29.4 °C 20 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
2 Aug 30.3 °C 18 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
3 Aug 31.0 °C 10 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Aug 31.9 °C 10 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
5 Aug 31.7 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
6 Aug 31.5 °C 13 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
7 Aug 32.2 °C 9 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
8 Aug 31.7 °C 9 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
9 Aug 31.2 °C 10 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
10 Aug 30.4 °C 9 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
11 Aug 30.4 °C 9 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 70
12 Aug 30.7 °C 9 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 70
13 Aug 30.6 °C 9 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
14 Aug 30.9 °C 8 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
15 Aug 30.7 °C 8 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
16 Aug 30.3 °C 8 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76
17 Aug 30.6 °C 9 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
18 Aug 30.7 °C 7 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
19 Aug 29.7 °C 9 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 74
20 Aug 30.3 °C 8 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 75
21 Aug 30.4 °C 8 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 70
22 Aug after 30.7 °C 5 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
23 Aug after 30.1 °C 8 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
24 Aug after 30.5 °C 9 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
25 Aug after 30.9 °C 10 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
26 Aug after 31.4 °C 8 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
27 Aug after 31.4 °C 7 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
28 Aug after 32.1 °C 7 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
29 Aug after 32.7 °C 9 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
30 Aug after 32.3 °C 8 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 77
31 Aug after 32.1 °C 13 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 80

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 55.3, a minimum humidity of 8% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 19.

FWI at the start 55.3
Minimum humidity 8 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Cuvelai fire, September 2024
6,028 ha 14 days FWI 53.4 Min. humidity 8 % 193 km away, in 2024

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

What happened to them

14 days
median duration
6,028 ha
median area
21 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.3 mm
rain at the end (median; 1 of 19 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (8,820 ha against a median of 6,028 ha) and lasted 26 days, against 14 days.

In 18 of 19, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.3 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
47km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 21 Aug, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 1 of 19, with a median of 2.3 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 20 Jul 2024
After · 28 Aug 2024

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

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 1 August 2024 the air beside the fire reached 59 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 43: 2.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak59 µg/m³
Days over the guideline17 days
PM1085 µg/m³
Optical depth1.82
1 Aug5 Aug9 Aug13 Aug17 Aug
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 523Every 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 Chipindo fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 27 July 2024 to 21 August 2024 (26 days). The perimeter dates it from 3 August 2024 to 14 August 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 8,820 hectares (88.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Cuvango (8,002 ha, 0.8 %); Chipindo (861 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.2 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 76, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 19. Their median duration was 14 days and their median area 6,028 ha; 21 % went past 10,000 ha. In 18 of 19, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.3 mm.

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

History of this page · 7 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 14 August 2024 → 21 August 2024.
  2. Start date: 3 August 2024 → 27 July 2024.
  3. Last day with fire: 21 August 2024 → 14 August 2024.
  4. Start date: 30 July 2024 → 3 August 2024.
  5. Name: Cuvango → Chipindo.
  6. Last day with fire: 14 August 2024 → 21 August 2024.
  7. Start date: 3 August 2024 → 30 July 2024.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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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How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 3 August 2024 to 14 August 2024. 523 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.