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Cuvelai fire, 1 September 2019 Cuvelai, Cuanhama

Out · last detection 25 Sept 2019, 23:37 UTC

The fire started on 1 September 2019 in Cuvelai, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 24 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 13,593 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 13th largest in Cunene since 2016 (of 104 with a page). Number 29 in Angola in 2019, of 207.

Burnt area
13,593ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
24days
1 Sept 2019 – 24 Sept 2019
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
1 Sept
2019
Heat detections
506
in a single hotspot: 100 MW
Danger at start
67
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
3.7GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Sept 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 1 Sept24 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

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
59km/h · peak gust
5%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

16% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 67 ha in 2016, 2,088 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

  1. Cuvelai where it started
    8,060 ha reached on 1 Sept
    0.5 %
  2. Cuanhama
    5,586 ha reached on 2 Sept
    0.3 %

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)
1 Sept 32.7 °C 9 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
2 Sept 33.1 °C 8 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
3 Sept 34.2 °C 6 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 70
4 Sept 35.0 °C 9 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
5 Sept 35.6 °C 10 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
6 Sept 36.4 °C 9 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
7 Sept 34.6 °C 11 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
8 Sept 30.6 °C 14 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 75
9 Sept 29.0 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
10 Sept 30.4 °C 7 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
11 Sept 32.3 °C 5 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
12 Sept 32.1 °C 9 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
13 Sept 33.0 °C 11 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
14 Sept 35.3 °C 6 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
15 Sept 36.4 °C 5 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
16 Sept 35.4 °C 9 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
17 Sept 35.0 °C 7 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 77
18 Sept 34.6 °C 8 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
19 Sept 36.0 °C 7 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76
20 Sept 35.1 °C 7 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
21 Sept 36.4 °C 7 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
22 Sept 36.6 °C 8 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
23 Sept 36.0 °C 10 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
24 Sept 35.9 °C 6 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
25 Sept after 36.1 °C 5 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 75
26 Sept after 32.8 °C 13 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 75
27 Sept after 32.0 °C 17 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
28 Sept after 33.5 °C 11 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
29 Sept after 33.5 °C 7 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
30 Sept after 33.1 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
1 Oct after 34.1 °C 7 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
2 Oct after 35.9 °C 5 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
3 Oct after 36.2 °C 7 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
4 Oct after 35.2 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
5 Oct after 35.9 °C 13 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
6 Oct after 36.2 °C 16 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
7 Oct after 36.6 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
8 Oct after 38.4 °C 11 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 25 Aug 2019
After · 1 Oct 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 · 506Every 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 1 September 2019 and 24 September 2019: 24 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 13,593 hectares (135.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Cuvelai (8,060 ha, 0.5 %); Cuanhama (5,586 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.6 °C, humidity dropped to 5 % and gusts hit 59 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 77, 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.

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.