Burned area
satellite only5,920ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- 15 Aug 2024 – 3 Sept 2024
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
AO · Angola · –
Cuanhama fire, 15 August 2024 Cuanhama, Namacunde
Out · last detection 3 Sept 2024, 11:44 UTC
The fire started on 15 August 2024 in Cuanhama, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 20 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,920 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 49th largest in Cunene since 2016 (of 79 with a page). Number 87 in Angola in 2024, of 135.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-26matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only20days
15 Aug 2024 to 3 Sept 2024: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 3 Sept 2024, 11:44 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only15 Aug 2024
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 15 Aug 2024
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only242
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 83 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 15 Aug 2024 – 3 Sept 2024
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only770MW
Total radiative power on 21 August 2024; hotspots that day: 77.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 21 Aug 2024
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model62.7FWI · extreme
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 60.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 15 Aug 2024, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model34.6°C · 8% RH
High of 34.6 °C and minimum humidity of 8% on 30 August 2024; gusts of 55 km/h on 1 September 2024.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 15 Aug 2024 – 3 Sept 2024
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
logLast day with fire: 28 August 2024 → 3 September 2024.
-
logStart date: 16 August 2024 → 15 August 2024.
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
What was saved on 26 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 5,920 ha
- Dates
- 15 Aug 2024 – 3 Sept 2024
- Name
- Cuanhama
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/cuanhama-2024-08-4?v=2026-10-26A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire cuanhama-2024-08-4.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-08-15 | 0 | 0 | 32.1 | 14.1 | 7 | 20.3 | 44.3 | 0 | 62.7 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-16 | 5 | 19 | 32.7 | 14.1 | 6 | 19.8 | 43.2 | 0 | 62.4 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-17 | 8 | 42 | 32.8 | 10.8 | 9 | 18.9 | 41.4 | 0 | 61.5 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-18 | 4 | 22 | 32.2 | 10.8 | 12 | 17 | 38.5 | 0 | 57.6 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-19 | 6 | 16 | 31.8 | 13.5 | 10 | 22.1 | 46.1 | 0 | 65 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-20 | 34 | 515 | 32.6 | 11.1 | 8 | 19.5 | 41 | 0 | 61.7 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-21 | 77 | 770 | 32.3 | 11.6 | 9 | 20.4 | 41.4 | 0 | 63.2 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-22 | 21 | 190 | 32.2 | 11.1 | 8 | 16.5 | 38.5 | 0 | 58.3 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-23 | 6 | 26 | 32 | 11.6 | 9 | 20.3 | 43.9 | 0 | 63.8 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-24 | 12 | 68 | 31.8 | 13 | 10 | 23 | 45.4 | 0 | 67.8 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-25 | 9 | 34 | 32.3 | 12.4 | 9 | 18.9 | 39.6 | 0 | 62.2 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-26 | 24 | 206 | 32.4 | 10.4 | 9 | 18.9 | 39.2 | 0 | 62.5 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-27 | 6 | 35 | 33.3 | 11.5 | 8 | 15.5 | 36.4 | 0 | 58.2 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-28 | 0 | 0 | 33.9 | 12.1 | 6 | 16.7 | 34.6 | 0 | 60.1 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-29 | 9 | 59 | 34.3 | 14.6 | 7 | 12 | 30.2 | 0 | 54.3 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-30 | 4 | 13 | 34.6 | 16.2 | 8 | 24.3 | 50 | 0 | 71.8 | muy_extremo | 1 |
| 2024-08-31 | 11 | 35 | 34.1 | 16.3 | 13 | 26.8 | 52.2 | 0 | 73.1 | muy_extremo | 1 |
| 2024-09-01 | 2 | 23 | 31.7 | 21.2 | 13 | 27.9 | 55.1 | 0 | 72.5 | muy_extremo | 1 |
| 2024-09-02 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 16.2 | 12 | 24.8 | 50 | 0 | 67.8 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-09-03 | 4 | 34 | 31.2 | 14.4 | 10 | 24.2 | 49.7 | 0 | 67.2 | extremo | 1 |
| 2024-09-04 | 0 | 0 | 31.2 | 13.1 | 9 | 24.5 | 49.3 | 0 | 67.9 | extremo | 0 |
| 2024-09-05 | 0 | 0 | 31.7 | 12.5 | 8 | 18.4 | 39.2 | 0 | 59.5 | extremo | 0 |
| 2024-09-06 | 0 | 0 | 33.6 | 13.4 | 7 | 18 | 38.5 | 0 | 59.3 | extremo | 0 |
| 2024-09-07 | 0 | 0 | 34.5 | 13 | 8 | 14.7 | 34.9 | 0 | 55.3 | extremo | 0 |
| 2024-09-08 | 0 | 0 | 35.1 | 11.5 | 7 | 11.1 | 26.3 | 0 | 51.7 | extremo | 0 |
| 2024-09-09 | 0 | 0 | 34.7 | 15.1 | 7 | 14.2 | 29.9 | 0 | 55.7 | extremo | 0 |
| 2024-09-10 | 0 | 0 | 35.5 | 15.3 | 8 | 15.2 | 35.3 | 0 | 57.2 | extremo | 0 |
| 2024-09-11 | 0 | 0 | 35.4 | 15 | 9 | 17.8 | 34.6 | 0 | 60.9 | extremo | 0 |
| 2024-09-12 | 0 | 0 | 35.6 | 20.1 | 13 | 20.2 | 41.8 | 0 | 64.3 | extremo | 0 |
| 2024-09-13 | 0 | 0 | 35.6 | 22.2 | 15 | 15.9 | 37.8 | 0 | 56.8 | extremo | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: GWIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 5,920ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 20days
- 15 Aug 2024 – 3 Sept 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 15 Aug
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 242
- in a single hotspot: 83 MW
- Danger at start
- 63
- Extreme · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 124MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
15 Aug3 Sept
3 Sept 2024
How it evolved, day by day
16 Aug
21 Aug
24 Aug
29 Aug
3 Sept
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
35°high
55km/h · peak gust
6%lowest humidity
It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
73% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 711 ha in 2016, 2,240 ha in 2017, 904 ha in 2018, 970 ha in 2020, 2,216 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,319 ha that had burned before.
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Cuanhama where it started5,709 ha reached on 16 Aug0.3 %
-
245 ha reached on 17 Aug0.0 %
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.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2025Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Aug | 32.1 °C | 7 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 16 Aug | 32.7 °C | 6 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 17 Aug | 32.8 °C | 9 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 18 Aug | 32.2 °C | 12 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 19 Aug | 31.8 °C | 10 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 20 Aug | 32.6 °C | 8 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 21 Aug | 32.3 °C | 9 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 22 Aug | 32.2 °C | 8 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 23 Aug | 32.0 °C | 9 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 24 Aug | 31.8 °C | 10 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 68 |
| 25 Aug | 32.3 °C | 9 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 26 Aug | 32.4 °C | 9 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 27 Aug | 33.3 °C | 8 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 28 Aug | 33.9 °C | 6 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 29 Aug | 34.3 °C | 7 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 30 Aug | 34.6 °C | 8 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 72 |
| 31 Aug | 34.1 °C | 13 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 73 |
| 1 Sept | 31.7 °C | 13 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 72 |
| 2 Sept | 31.0 °C | 12 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 68 |
| 3 Sept | 31.2 °C | 10 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 67 |
| 4 Sept after | 31.2 °C | 9 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 68 |
| 5 Sept after | 31.7 °C | 8 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 6 Sept after | 33.6 °C | 7 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 7 Sept after | 34.5 °C | 8 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 8 Sept after | 35.1 °C | 7 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 9 Sept after | 34.7 °C | 7 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 10 Sept after | 35.5 °C | 8 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 11 Sept after | 35.4 °C | 9 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 12 Sept after | 35.6 °C | 13 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 13 Sept after | 35.6 °C | 15 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 62.7, a minimum humidity of 7% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 39.
FWI at the start
62.7
Minimum humidity
7 %
Days without rain
60+
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Cuanhama fire, 15 August 2024
5,920 ha
20 days
FWI 62.7
Min. humidity 7 %
Cuanhama fire, September 2019
5,276 ha
4 days
FWI 62.1
Min. humidity 7 %
46 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Cuanhama fire, September 2020
5,016 ha
11 days
FWI 61.2
Min. humidity 8 %
50 km away, in 2020
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.1 mm on 15 Oct.
Eenhana fire, October 2017
3,337 ha
7 days
FWI 61.2
Min. humidity 7 %
117 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.2 mm on 23 Oct.
Namacunde fire, September 2017
10,833 ha
7 days
FWI 65.3
Min. humidity 8 %
34 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Namacunde fire, September 2019
7,446 ha
11 days
FWI 64.2
Min. humidity 5 %
35 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
What happened to them
- 9 days
- median duration
- 5,628 ha
- median area
- 15 %
- went past 10,000 ha
- 1.4 mm
- rain at the end (median; 10 of 39 had it)
It burned an area similar to its twins (5,920 ha against a median of 5,628 ha) and lasted 20 days, against 9 days.
In 29 of 39, 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 1.4 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
55km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 3 Sept, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 10 of 39, with a median of 1.4 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.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 8 Aug 2024
After · 10 Sept 2024
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 · CopernicusOn 18 August 2024 the air beside the fire reached 38 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 26: 1.8 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak38 µg/m³
Days over the guideline9 days
PM1055 µg/m³
Optical depth0.61
WHO 15
14 Aug18 Aug22 Aug26 Aug30 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 · 242Every 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 time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 8,600 haNamacundeSeptember 2024 · 8 days · 15 km away
- 17,250 haNamacunde3 September 2026 · 16 days · 17 km away
- 32,664 haNamacunde8 September 2025 · 9 days · 21 km away
- 7,879 haNamacunde29 September 2025 · 6 days · 26 km away
- 12,963 haCuanhama13 August 2024 · 20 days · 32 km away
- 10,833 haNamacundeSeptember 2017 · 7 days · 34 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Cuanhama fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 15 August 2024 to 3 September 2024 (20 days). The perimeter dates it from 16 August 2024 to 28 August 2024.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,920 hectares (59.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Cuanhama (5,709 ha, 0.3 %); Namacunde (245 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.6 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 73, 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: 39. Their median duration was 9 days and their median area 5,628 ha; 15 % went past 10,000 ha. In 29 of 39, 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 1.4 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 · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
- Last day with fire: 28 August 2024 → 3 September 2024.
- Start date: 16 August 2024 → 15 August 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.
Report an error
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 16 August 2024 to 28 August 2024. 242 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.
- Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.