Libolo (Calulo) fire, June 2026 Libolo (Calulo), Quibala
The fire started on 22 June 2026 in Libolo (Calulo), Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 22 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 14,637 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 11th largest in Cuanza Sul since 2016 (of 79 with a page). Number 92 in Angola in 2026, of 485.
- Burnt area
- 14,637ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 22days
- 22 Jun 2026 – 13 Jul 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 22 Jun
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 251
- in a single hotspot: 127 MW
- Danger at start
- 16
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.8GW
- 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 33 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
98% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 6,497 ha in 2016, 6,194 ha in 2017, 7,030 ha in 2018, 5,407 ha in 2019, 2,989 ha in 2020, 2,365 ha in 2021, 3,602 ha in 2022, 6,155 ha in 2023, 7,002 ha in 2024, 1,380 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 14,393 ha that had burned before.
- 4,191 ha Libolo (Calulo) fire, July 2018 8,507 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,647 ha Libolo (Calulo) fire, June 2018 6,378 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,249 ha Libolo (Calulo) fire, July 2019 5,431 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Libolo (Calulo) where it started14,441 ha reached on 22 Jun2.4 %
-
299 ha reached on 26 Jun0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Jun | 25.1 °C | 52 % | 24 km/h | 0.8 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 23 Jun | 26.6 °C | 44 % | 26 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 24 Jun | 28.1 °C | 34 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 25 Jun | 27.1 °C | 35 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 26 Jun | 27.0 °C | 37 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 27 Jun | 27.2 °C | 36 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 28 Jun | 24.8 °C | 55 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 29 Jun | 25.4 °C | 47 % | 32 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 22 |
| 30 Jun | 27.0 °C | 40 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 1 Jul | 27.1 °C | 44 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 2 Jul | 27.4 °C | 41 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 3 Jul | 27.9 °C | 42 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 4 Jul | 29.9 °C | 26 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 5 Jul | 29.8 °C | 23 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 6 Jul | 30.0 °C | 18 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 7 Jul | 29.4 °C | 20 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 8 Jul | 28.5 °C | 22 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 9 Jul | 27.3 °C | 29 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 10 Jul | 28.7 °C | 25 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 11 Jul | 26.6 °C | 34 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 12 Jul | 28.8 °C | 26 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 13 Jul | 29.0 °C | 24 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 14 Jul after | 30.5 °C | 18 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 15 Jul after | 29.4 °C | 19 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 16 Jul after | 29.6 °C | 19 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 17 Jul after | 28.4 °C | 17 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 18 Jul after | 26.8 °C | 21 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 19 Jul after | 28.9 °C | 17 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 20 Jul after | 25.6 °C | 42 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 21 Jul after | 25.4 °C | 45 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 22 Jul after | 29.0 °C | 31 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 23 Jul after | 31.5 °C | 18 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 11 July 2026 the air beside the fire reached 158 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 95: 6.4 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 251Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 16,031 haLibolo (Calulo)18 July 2026 · 14 days · 8 km away
- 13,144 haQuibala21 July 2026 · 17 days · 16 km away
- 13,978 haQuibala14 August 2026 · 36 days · 26 km away
- 16,541 haLibolo (Calulo)July 2020 · 9 days · 31 km away
- 10,473 haQuibala27 July 2025 · 11 days · 32 km away
- 12,317 haQuibala18 July 2026 · 19 days · 33 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Libolo (Calulo) fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 June 2026 and 13 July 2026: 22 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 14,637 hectares (146.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Libolo (Calulo) (14,441 ha, 2.4 %); Quibala (299 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.0 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 47, 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.
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.