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Libolo (Calulo) fire, 22 July 2026 Libolo (Calulo), Quibala

Out · last detection 1 Aug 2026, 12:27 UTC

The fire started on 22 July 2026 in Libolo (Calulo), Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,545 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 47th largest in Cuanza Sul since 2016 (of 79 with a page). Number 301 in Angola in 2026, of 486.

Burnt area
6,545ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
11days
22 Jul 2026 – 1 Aug 2026
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
22 Jul
2026
Heat detections
112
in a single hotspot: 73 MW
Danger at start
43
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
1.7GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

1 Aug 2026
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 22 Jul1 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

222324252627282930311

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

The weather it burned in

32°high
48km/h · peak gust
14%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

82% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,820 ha in 2016, 2,872 ha in 2017, 47 ha in 2018, 1,110 ha in 2019, 453 ha in 2020, 556 ha in 2021, 309 ha in 2022, 636 ha in 2024, 369 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,364 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Libolo (Calulo) where it started
    4,276 ha reached on 18 Jul
    0.7 %
  2. Quibala
    2,307 ha reached on 20 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)
18 Jul 28.2 °C 19 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
19 Jul 29.9 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
20 Jul 27.8 °C 30 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
21 Jul 27.5 °C 36 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
22 Jul 30.7 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
23 Jul 32.0 °C 17 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
24 Jul 31.5 °C 14 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
25 Jul 31.5 °C 14 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
26 Jul 30.6 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
27 Jul 30.4 °C 22 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
28 Jul 30.0 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Jul 29.6 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
30 Jul 29.2 °C 24 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
31 Jul 30.5 °C 21 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
1 Aug 29.5 °C 25 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
2 Aug after 29.6 °C 23 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
3 Aug after 29.2 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
4 Aug after 28.4 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
5 Aug after 29.2 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
6 Aug after 29.2 °C 28 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
7 Aug after 30.8 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
8 Aug after 30.8 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
9 Aug after 30.7 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
10 Aug after 31.1 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
11 Aug after 30.8 °C 20 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 15 Jul 2026
After · 8 Aug 2026

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 · Copernicus

On 26 July 2026 the air beside the fire reached 306 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 175: 12 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak306 µg/m³
Days over the guideline20 days
PM10313 µg/m³
Optical depth1.74
161718192021222324252627282930311234
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 112Every 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 22 July 2026 and 1 August 2026: 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 6,545 hectares (65.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Libolo (Calulo) (4,276 ha, 0.7 %); Quibala (2,307 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.0 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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.

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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.