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Libolo (Calulo) fire, July 2019 Quibala, Libolo (Calulo)

Out · last detection 22 Jul 2019, 12:48 UTC

The fire started on 15 July 2019 in Libolo (Calulo), Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,431 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 66th largest in Cuanza Sul since 2016 (of 79 with a page). Number 174 in Angola in 2019, of 207.

Burnt area
5,431ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
15 Jul 2019 – 21 Jul 2019
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
15 Jul
2019
Heat detections
192
in a single hotspot: 252 MW
Danger at start
34
High · FWI index
Energy released
8.4GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

22 Jul 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Jul21 Jul

How it evolved, day by day

15161719202122

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

The weather it burned in

29°high
34km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

66% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,601 ha in 2016, 2,155 ha in 2017, 1,151 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,575 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Quibala
    4,289 ha reached on 17 Jul
    0.4 %
  2. Libolo (Calulo) where it started
    1,173 ha reached on 15 Jul
    0.2 %

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)
15 Jul 28.2 °C 26 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
16 Jul 29.0 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
17 Jul 27.9 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
18 Jul 28.4 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
19 Jul 28.8 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
20 Jul 28.4 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
21 Jul 27.6 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
22 Jul after 28.1 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
23 Jul after 27.0 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
24 Jul after 29.4 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Jul after 28.8 °C 21 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
26 Jul after 28.0 °C 15 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
27 Jul after 29.7 °C 12 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 Jul after 27.4 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Jul after 27.5 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
30 Jul after 26.2 °C 28 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
31 Jul after 26.8 °C 31 % 40 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 · 8 Jul 2019
After · 28 Jul 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 · 192Every 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 15 July 2019 and 21 July 2019: 7 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 5,431 hectares (54.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Quibala (4,289 ha, 0.4 %); Libolo (Calulo) (1,173 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.0 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, 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.