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Libolo (Calulo) fire, July 2018 Libolo (Calulo), Quibala

Out · last detection 17 Jul 2018, 13:26 UTC

The fire started on 10 July 2018 in Libolo (Calulo), Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 8,507 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 24th largest in Cuanza Sul since 2016 (of 79 with a page). Number 24 in Angola in 2018, of 100.

Burnt area
8,507ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
10 Jul 2018 – 17 Jul 2018
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
10 Jul
2018
Heat detections
276
in a single hotspot: 302 MW
Danger at start
38
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
8.9GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

17 Jul 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 Jul17 Jul

How it evolved, day by day

1011121314151617

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

The weather it burned in

28°high
41km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 49 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

63% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,549 ha in 2016, 3,583 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,374 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Libolo (Calulo) where it started
    8,467 ha reached on 10 Jul
    1.4 %
  2. Quibala
    101 ha reached on 12 Jul
    0.0 %

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)
10 Jul 27.6 °C 22 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
11 Jul 27.8 °C 20 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Jul 27.7 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
13 Jul 26.7 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
14 Jul 26.1 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
15 Jul 25.6 °C 39 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
16 Jul 27.5 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
17 Jul 27.9 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
18 Jul after 26.2 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
19 Jul after 26.6 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
20 Jul after 26.9 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
21 Jul after 28.3 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
22 Jul after 27.4 °C 23 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Jul after 28.5 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
24 Jul after 27.9 °C 19 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
25 Jul after 26.6 °C 23 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
26 Jul after 25.9 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
27 Jul after 25.0 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 3 Jul 2018
After · 24 Jul 2018

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 · 276Every 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 Libolo (Calulo) fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 10 July 2018 and 17 July 2018: 8 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 8,507 hectares (85.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Libolo (Calulo) (8,467 ha, 1.4 %); Quibala (101 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 27.9 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, 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.

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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.