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Cuvelai fire, 3 July 2019 Cuanhama, Cuvelai

Out · last detection 14 Aug 2019, 12:16 UTC

The fire started on 3 July 2019 in Cuvelai, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 43 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 23,010 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 3th largest in Cunene since 2016 (of 104 with a page). Number 9 in Angola in 2019, of 207.

Burnt area
23,010ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
43days
3 Jul 2019 – 14 Aug 2019
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
3 Jul
2019
Heat detections
1,036
in a single hotspot: 159 MW
Danger at start
54
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
12.3GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

14 Aug 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 3 Jul14 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

34589101112131415161718192021222324252627282930311234567891011121314

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

The weather it burned in

33°high
50km/h · peak gust
4%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

38% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 680 ha in 2016, 8,212 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

  1. Cuanhama
    16,717 ha reached on 15 Jul
    0.8 %
  2. Cuvelai where it started
    6,377 ha reached on 3 Jul
    0.4 %

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)
3 Jul 27.1 °C 14 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
4 Jul 28.6 °C 14 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
5 Jul 28.3 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
6 Jul 28.3 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
7 Jul 28.3 °C 11 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
8 Jul 29.6 °C 6 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
9 Jul 28.7 °C 9 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
10 Jul 28.1 °C 6 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
11 Jul 29.0 °C 8 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
12 Jul 28.8 °C 11 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
13 Jul 29.2 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
14 Jul 29.2 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
15 Jul 28.0 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
16 Jul 27.7 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
17 Jul 28.1 °C 13 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
18 Jul 27.8 °C 14 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
19 Jul 28.2 °C 13 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
20 Jul 28.3 °C 12 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
21 Jul 29.3 °C 10 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
22 Jul 29.9 °C 8 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
23 Jul 30.4 °C 9 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
24 Jul 30.5 °C 11 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
25 Jul 30.0 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
26 Jul 29.4 °C 10 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
27 Jul 29.4 °C 9 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
28 Jul 29.4 °C 7 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
29 Jul 30.9 °C 5 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
30 Jul 30.2 °C 9 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
31 Jul 31.3 °C 4 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
1 Aug 30.9 °C 7 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
2 Aug 31.4 °C 7 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
3 Aug 32.3 °C 9 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
4 Aug 29.9 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
5 Aug 31.3 °C 13 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
6 Aug 31.1 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
7 Aug 32.8 °C 16 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
8 Aug 31.2 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
9 Aug 33.3 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
10 Aug 32.5 °C 11 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
11 Aug 32.1 °C 10 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
12 Aug 32.5 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
13 Aug 32.6 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
14 Aug 31.8 °C 14 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
15 Aug after 31.5 °C 11 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 72
16 Aug after 28.7 °C 12 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
17 Aug after 28.5 °C 15 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
18 Aug after 30.0 °C 13 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
19 Aug after 29.6 °C 11 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
20 Aug after 28.7 °C 11 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
21 Aug after 29.1 °C 11 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
22 Aug after 28.2 °C 15 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
23 Aug after 27.9 °C 13 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
24 Aug after 27.7 °C 12 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 26 Jun 2019
After · 21 Aug 2019

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 · 1,036Every 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 Cuvelai fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 July 2019 and 14 August 2019: 43 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 23,010 hectares (230.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Cuanhama (16,717 ha, 0.8 %); Cuvelai (6,377 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.3 °C, humidity dropped to 4 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 63, 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.