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Cuangar fire, 12 September 2017 Cuangar, Nancova

Out · last detection 23 Sept 2017, 12:53 UTC

The fire started on 12 September 2017 in Cuangar, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 18,619 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 51th largest in Cuando Cubango since 2016 (of 659 with a page). Number 4 in Angola in 2017, of 158.

Burnt area
18,619ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
11days
12 Sept 2017 – 22 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
12 Sept
2017
Heat detections
652
in a single hotspot: 156 MW
Danger at start
59
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
6.9GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

23 Sept 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Sept22 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

121314151617181920212223

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
50km/h · peak gust
7%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 6 Oct.

This area had burned before

11% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,086 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Cuangar where it started
    12,552 ha reached on 12 Sept
    0.7 %
  2. Nancova
    6,126 ha reached on 13 Sept
    0.6 %

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)
12 Sept 34.5 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
13 Sept 34.4 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
14 Sept 34.9 °C 13 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
15 Sept 35.1 °C 11 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
16 Sept 35.7 °C 7 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
17 Sept 35.7 °C 9 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
18 Sept 36.7 °C 9 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
19 Sept 36.0 °C 11 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
20 Sept 34.8 °C 14 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
21 Sept 35.0 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
22 Sept 35.2 °C 16 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
23 Sept after 34.9 °C 13 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
24 Sept after 36.0 °C 11 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
25 Sept after 36.7 °C 9 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
26 Sept after 36.0 °C 13 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
27 Sept after 35.2 °C 16 % 34 km/h 1.7 mm High 38
28 Sept after 33.7 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
29 Sept after 32.2 °C 17 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
30 Sept after 32.8 °C 18 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Oct after 33.7 °C 19 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
2 Oct after 34.2 °C 17 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
3 Oct after 36.5 °C 14 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
4 Oct after 35.8 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
5 Oct after 34.0 °C 20 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
6 Oct after 29.9 °C 31 % 44 km/h 1.3 mm High 32

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 5 Sept 2017
After · 29 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 · 652Every 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 Cuangar fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 September 2017 and 22 September 2017: 11 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 18,619 hectares (186.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Cuangar (12,552 ha, 0.7 %); Nancova (6,126 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.7 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 66, 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.