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Libolo (Calulo) fire, June 2020 Libolo (Calulo), Quibala

Out · last detection 6 Jul 2020, 00:50 UTC

The fire started on 26 June 2020 in Libolo (Calulo), Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,321 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 71th largest in Cuanza Sul since 2016 (of 79 with a page). Number 101 in Angola in 2020, of 123.

Burnt area
5,321ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
10days
26 Jun 2020 – 5 Jul 2020
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
26 Jun
2020
Heat detections
175
in a single hotspot: 162 MW
Danger at start
37
High · FWI index
Energy released
4.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

6 Jul 2020
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 26 Jun5 Jul

How it evolved, day by day

262728293013456

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

The weather it burned in

30°high
42km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

65% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 933 ha in 2016, 765 ha in 2017, 1,255 ha in 2018, 2,112 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,443 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Libolo (Calulo) where it started
    3,837 ha reached on 23 Jun
    0.6 %
  2. Quibala
    1,521 ha reached on 23 Jun
    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)
26 Jun 29.1 °C 19 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
27 Jun 28.0 °C 24 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Jun 27.9 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
29 Jun 29.6 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
30 Jun 28.7 °C 23 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
1 Jul 28.6 °C 25 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
2 Jul 29.0 °C 26 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Jul 28.4 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
4 Jul 27.3 °C 23 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
5 Jul 27.4 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
6 Jul after 27.3 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
7 Jul after 28.3 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
8 Jul after 28.8 °C 19 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
9 Jul after 28.7 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
10 Jul after 29.4 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
11 Jul after 30.3 °C 21 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
12 Jul after 28.7 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
13 Jul after 29.9 °C 23 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
14 Jul after 29.7 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
15 Jul after 28.0 °C 19 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 19 Jun 2020
After · 12 Jul 2020

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 · 175Every 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 26 June 2020 and 5 July 2020: 10 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 5,321 hectares (53.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Libolo (Calulo) (3,837 ha, 0.6 %); Quibala (1,521 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.6 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 43, 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.