Cuilo fire, 12 July 2026 Cuilo
The fire started on 12 July 2026 in Cuilo, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,338 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 347th largest in Lunda Norte since 2016 (of 411 with a page). Number 438 in Angola in 2026, of 486.
- Burnt area
- 5,338ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 12 Jul 2026 – 14 Jul 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 12 Jul
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 3
- in a single hotspot: 60 MW
- Danger at start
- 38
- Very high · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone 59 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
92% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,162 ha in 2016, 1,541 ha in 2018, 920 ha in 2019, 114 ha in 2020, 3,291 ha in 2022, 783 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,909 ha that had burned before.
- 3,291 ha Cuilo fire, July 2022 7,704 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,385 ha Cuilo fire, June 2016 9,467 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,541 ha Cuilo fire, July 2018 5,627 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 114 ha Cuilo fire, July 2020 7,867 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Cuilo where it started5,365 ha reached on 18 Jul0.5 %
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 Jul | 32.0 °C | 22 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 13 Jul | 32.7 °C | 17 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 14 Jul | 32.4 °C | 20 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 15 Jul after | 31.8 °C | 26 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 16 Jul after | 30.4 °C | 21 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 17 Jul after | 29.8 °C | 17 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 18 Jul after | 30.5 °C | 18 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 19 Jul after | 29.9 °C | 22 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 20 Jul after | 29.3 °C | 35 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 21 Jul after | 31.5 °C | 32 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 22 Jul after | 32.9 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 23 Jul after | 32.2 °C | 17 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 24 Jul after | 32.0 °C | 24 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 12 July 2026 the air beside the fire reached 112 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 64: 4.3 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 3Every 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 Cuilo fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 July 2026 and 14 July 2026: 3 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 5,338 hectares (53.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Cuilo (5,365 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.7 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, 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.