Libolo (Calulo) fire, 19 September 2026 Libolo (Calulo)
The fire started on 19 September 2026 in Libolo (Calulo), Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 19,063 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 7th largest in Cuanza Sul since 2016 (of 79 with a page). Number 54 in Angola in 2026, of 486.
- Burnt area
- 19,063ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 19 Sept 2026 – 26 Sept 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 19 Sept
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 341
- in a single hotspot: 67 MW
- Danger at start
- 14
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.4GW
- 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 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 7 Oct.
This area had burned before
68% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,557 ha in 2017, 562 ha in 2018, 2,554 ha in 2020, 5,677 ha in 2021, 1,141 ha in 2022, 2,344 ha in 2024, 10,423 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 13,050 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Libolo (Calulo) where it started19,174 ha3.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Sept | 25.7 °C | 60 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 20 Sept | 28.3 °C | 52 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 21 Sept | 27.9 °C | 50 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 22 Sept | 26.7 °C | 58 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 23 Sept | 28.4 °C | 51 % | 26 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 24 Sept | 30.9 °C | 45 % | 33 km/h | 1.3 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 25 Sept | 30.3 °C | 43 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 26 Sept | 27.8 °C | 52 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 27 Sept after | 28.7 °C | 48 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 28 Sept after | 29.4 °C | 48 % | 28 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 22 |
| 29 Sept after | 27.3 °C | 55 % | 27 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 30 Sept after | 31.4 °C | 45 % | 33 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 24 |
| 1 Oct after | 29.1 °C | 50 % | 30 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 23 |
| 2 Oct after | 31.8 °C | 41 % | 30 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 22 |
| 3 Oct after | 30.6 °C | 45 % | 31 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 24 |
| 4 Oct after | 30.2 °C | 44 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 5 Oct after | 30.3 °C | 45 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 6 Oct after | 29.1 °C | 46 % | 36 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 25 |
| 7 Oct after | 31.2 °C | 42 % | 34 km/h | 1.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
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 24 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 253 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 184: 12 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 · 341Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Libolo (Calulo) fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 September 2026 and 26 September 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 19,063 hectares (190.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Libolo (Calulo) (19,174 ha, 3.2 %).
- Is the Libolo (Calulo) fire still active?
- No fire detections since 27 Sept 2026, 13:01 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 31.8 °C, humidity dropped to 41 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, class 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.