Mussende fire, August 2023 Mussende
The fire started on 4 August 2023 in Mussende, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,456 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 65th largest in Cuanza Sul since 2016 (of 79 with a page). Number 130 in Angola in 2023, of 158.
- Burnt area
- 5,456ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 4 Aug 2023 – 10 Aug 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 4 Aug
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 257
- in a single hotspot: 144 MW
- Danger at start
- 43
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.0GW
- 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
74% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 261 ha in 2016, 798 ha in 2017, 985 ha in 2019, 1,185 ha in 2020, 1,851 ha in 2021, 1,852 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,012 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Mussende where it started5,494 ha reached on 29 Jul0.5 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Aug | 30.3 °C | 16 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 5 Aug | 29.5 °C | 14 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 6 Aug | 29.0 °C | 17 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 7 Aug | 29.6 °C | 19 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 8 Aug | 29.5 °C | 21 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 9 Aug | 28.9 °C | 23 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 10 Aug | 30.9 °C | 17 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 11 Aug after | 30.8 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 12 Aug after | 30.3 °C | 20 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 13 Aug after | 30.5 °C | 18 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 14 Aug after | 30.7 °C | 16 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 15 Aug after | 30.9 °C | 15 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 16 Aug after | 31.5 °C | 16 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 17 Aug after | 30.3 °C | 28 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 18 Aug after | 28.2 °C | 34 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 19 Aug after | 32.3 °C | 14 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 20 Aug after | 31.3 °C | 21 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
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 · 257Every 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 Mussende fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 4 August 2023 and 10 August 2023: 7 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 5,456 hectares (54.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Mussende (5,494 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.9 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, 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.