Cuvelai fire, 18 August 2023 Cuvelai
The fire started on 18 August 2023 in Cuvelai, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,640 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 42th largest in Cunene since 2016 (of 104 with a page). Number 56 in Angola in 2023, of 158.
- Burnt area
- 7,640ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 18 Aug 2023 – 28 Aug 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 18 Aug
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 297
- in a single hotspot: 145 MW
- Danger at start
- 53
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 5.2GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
70% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,286 ha in 2016, 786 ha in 2017, 1,989 ha in 2018, 2,790 ha in 2019, 1,551 ha in 2021, 292 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,371 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Cuvelai where it started7,665 ha reached on 18 Aug0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Aug | 32.0 °C | 12 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 19 Aug | 31.7 °C | 10 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 20 Aug | 32.2 °C | 10 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 21 Aug | 34.1 °C | 9 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 22 Aug | 32.5 °C | 6 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 23 Aug | 32.6 °C | 8 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 24 Aug | 33.9 °C | 8 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 25 Aug | 33.3 °C | 9 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 26 Aug | 32.5 °C | 10 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 27 Aug | 30.5 °C | 13 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 28 Aug | 29.4 °C | 19 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 29 Aug after | 29.2 °C | 19 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 30 Aug after | 29.0 °C | 15 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 31 Aug after | 30.6 °C | 10 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 1 Sept after | 31.4 °C | 8 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 2 Sept after | 32.9 °C | 4 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 3 Sept after | 33.2 °C | 7 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 4 Sept after | 33.0 °C | 4 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 5 Sept after | 32.9 °C | 7 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 6 Sept after | 33.3 °C | 9 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 7 Sept after | 33.8 °C | 14 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
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.
Detections table · 297Every 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 Cuvelai fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 August 2023 and 28 August 2023: 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 7,640 hectares (76.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Cuvelai (7,665 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.1 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, 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.
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.