Mavinga fire, 6 September 2023 Mavinga
The fire started on 6 September 2023 in Mavinga, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 21 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 12,335 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 124th largest in Cuando Cubango since 2016 (of 658 with a page). Number 17 in Angola in 2023, of 158.
- Burnt area
- 12,335ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 21days
- 6 Sept 2023 – 26 Sept 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 6 Sept
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 686
- in a single hotspot: 188 MW
- Danger at start
- 50
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 6.5GW
- 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 46 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
69% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 686 ha in 2016, 1,872 ha in 2017, 4,170 ha in 2018, 3,052 ha in 2019, 2,181 ha in 2020, 17 ha in 2021, 1,447 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 8,571 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Mavinga where it started12,430 ha reached on 6 Sept0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Sept | 33.3 °C | 16 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 7 Sept | 34.1 °C | 14 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 8 Sept | 34.0 °C | 15 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 9 Sept | 34.2 °C | 13 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 10 Sept | 33.5 °C | 12 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 11 Sept | 34.9 °C | 13 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 12 Sept | 27.9 °C | 15 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 13 Sept | 32.1 °C | 20 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 14 Sept | 32.9 °C | 15 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 15 Sept | 33.5 °C | 17 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 16 Sept | 33.8 °C | 12 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 17 Sept | 34.9 °C | 11 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 18 Sept | 35.8 °C | 13 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 19 Sept | 34.4 °C | 16 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 20 Sept | 34.9 °C | 16 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 21 Sept | 35.1 °C | 14 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 22 Sept | 34.5 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 23 Sept | 35.5 °C | 15 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 24 Sept | 34.8 °C | 16 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 25 Sept | 34.3 °C | 15 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 26 Sept | 28.9 °C | 14 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 27 Sept after | 30.8 °C | 16 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 28 Sept after | 33.4 °C | 13 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 29 Sept after | 34.5 °C | 13 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 30 Sept after | 35.0 °C | 15 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 1 Oct after | 35.9 °C | 10 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 2 Oct after | 35.5 °C | 21 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 3 Oct after | 34.3 °C | 18 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 4 Oct after | 33.3 °C | 15 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 5 Oct after | 34.4 °C | 15 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 6 Oct after | 34.8 °C | 17 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
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.
Detections table · 686Every 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 Mavinga fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 September 2023 and 26 September 2023: 21 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 12,335 hectares (123.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mavinga (12,430 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.8 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 63, 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.
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.