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Libolo (Calulo) fire, 20 July 2026 Libolo (Calulo), Quibala

Out · last detection 27 Jul 2026, 12:21 UTC

The fire started on 20 July 2026 in Libolo (Calulo), Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,256 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 36th largest in Cuanza Sul since 2016 (of 79 with a page). Number 251 in Angola in 2026, of 486.

Burnt area
7,256ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
20 Jul 2026 – 27 Jul 2026
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
20 Jul
2026
Heat detections
184
in a single hotspot: 244 MW
Danger at start
43
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
2.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

27 Jul 2026
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Jul27 Jul

How it evolved, day by day

2021222324252627

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

The weather it burned in

31°high
43km/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

73% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,655 ha in 2016, 2,139 ha in 2017, 614 ha in 2018, 1,836 ha in 2019, 160 ha in 2020, 773 ha in 2021, 1,204 ha in 2022, 1,294 ha in 2023, 771 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,319 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Libolo (Calulo) where it started
    3,727 ha reached on 17 Jul
    0.6 %
  2. Quibala
    3,573 ha reached on 17 Jul
    0.3 %

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)
17 Jul 27.5 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
18 Jul 27.5 °C 20 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
19 Jul 29.2 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
20 Jul 27.9 °C 26 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
21 Jul 27.4 °C 34 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
22 Jul 30.4 °C 27 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
23 Jul 31.1 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
24 Jul 30.2 °C 18 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
25 Jul 30.6 °C 14 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
26 Jul 30.1 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
27 Jul 29.8 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
28 Jul after 29.6 °C 18 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Jul after 28.9 °C 17 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
30 Jul after 28.8 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
31 Jul after 30.2 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
1 Aug after 29.3 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
2 Aug after 29.5 °C 22 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Aug after 28.8 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
4 Aug after 28.3 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Aug after 29.2 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
6 Aug after 28.9 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
7 Aug after 30.3 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
8 Aug after 30.5 °C 21 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
9 Aug after 30.8 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
10 Aug after 31.1 °C 18 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
11 Aug after 30.7 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
12 Aug after 30.8 °C 15 % 39 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 · 13 Jul 2026
After · 3 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 guideline13 days
PM10313 µg/m³
Optical depth1.74
18192021222324252627282930
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 · 184Every 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 20 July 2026 and 27 July 2026: 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 7,256 hectares (72.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Libolo (Calulo) (3,727 ha, 0.6 %); Quibala (3,573 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.1 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, 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.