How long did the Quibala fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 16 July 2026 to 18 September 2026 (65 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 July 2026 to 11 September 2026.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 87,203 hectares (872.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 3 municipalities: Quibala (55,776 ha, 5.4 %); Mussende (22,403 ha, 2.0 %); Andulo (9,609 ha, 1.0 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 30.2 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 52 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.

AO · Angola · 2026-07-16 → 2026-09-18

Quibala fire, 16 July 2026 Quibala, Mussende, Andulo

Out · last detection 18 Sept 2026, 12:29 UTC

The fire started on 16 July 2026 in Quibala, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 65 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 87,203 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 2th largest in Cuanza Sul since 2016 (of 79 with a page). Number 7 in Angola in 2026, of 487.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Quibala · 2025 Quibala · 2025 Mussende · 2025 Quibala · 2022

Burnt area: 87,203ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 65days; 16 Jul 2026 – 18 Sept 2026
Municipalities hit: 3; municipalities
Started on: 16 Jul; 2026
Heat detections: 4,921; in a single hotspot: 140 MW
Danger at start: 41; Very high · FWI index
Average daily power: 1.0GW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Jul18 Sept

Play back 18 Sept 2026

How it evolved, day by day

16 Jul 25 Jul 3 Aug 10 Aug 13 Aug 22 Aug 31 Aug 12 Sept

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

The weather it burned in

30°high

52km/h · peak gust

14%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 12 Sept.

This area had burned before

75% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,883 ha in 2016, 7,556 ha in 2017, 4,860 ha in 2018, 19,440 ha in 2019, 12,448 ha in 2020, 8,873 ha in 2021, 11,226 ha in 2022, 23,273 ha in 2023, 15,927 ha in 2024, 33,650 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 65,099 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 55% of the area of London (872 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

Quibala where it started

55,776 ha reached on 16 Jul

5.4 %
Mussende

22,403 ha reached on 16 Jul

2.0 %
Andulo

9,609 ha reached on 23 Jul

1.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025

Built-up area40 ha

Residents≈ 4,900

Inside the perimeter there were about 40 hectares of built-up land and about 4,900 residents (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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	25.5 °C	21 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
19 Jul	27.5 °C	20 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
20 Jul	26.6 °C	26 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
21 Jul	26.4 °C	32 %	22 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
22 Jul	28.7 °C	25 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
23 Jul	29.2 °C	19 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
24 Jul	28.3 °C	18 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
25 Jul	28.4 °C	16 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 47
26 Jul	28.2 °C	19 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
27 Jul	27.9 °C	23 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
28 Jul	27.5 °C	18 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
29 Jul	26.9 °C	18 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
30 Jul	26.9 °C	24 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
31 Jul	28.0 °C	23 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
1 Aug	27.5 °C	23 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
2 Aug	27.6 °C	22 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
3 Aug	26.6 °C	25 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
4 Aug	26.9 °C	33 %	16 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
5 Aug	27.4 °C	27 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 31
6 Aug	27.2 °C	25 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
7 Aug	28.4 °C	20 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
8 Aug	28.4 °C	21 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
9 Aug	28.6 °C	21 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
10 Aug	28.9 °C	18 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
11 Aug	28.6 °C	17 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
12 Aug	28.2 °C	17 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
13 Aug	28.8 °C	23 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
14 Aug	28.4 °C	33 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
15 Aug	28.7 °C	30 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
16 Aug	28.3 °C	25 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
17 Aug	28.5 °C	20 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
18 Aug	28.7 °C	20 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
19 Aug	29.3 °C	15 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
20 Aug	28.7 °C	14 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 49
21 Aug	27.8 °C	22 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
22 Aug	28.8 °C	25 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
23 Aug	29.0 °C	24 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
24 Aug	29.2 °C	26 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
25 Aug	28.7 °C	26 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
26 Aug	28.7 °C	30 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
27 Aug	30.1 °C	26 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
28 Aug	29.2 °C	26 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
29 Aug	29.7 °C	23 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
30 Aug	28.3 °C	32 %	31 km/h	0.2 mm	High 34
31 Aug	26.4 °C	47 %	33 km/h	0.9 mm	Moderate 18
1 Sept	29.3 °C	30 %	23 km/h	0.1 mm	High 26
2 Sept	30.2 °C	26 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
3 Sept	26.4 °C	42 %	24 km/h	0.1 mm	High 30
4 Sept	27.0 °C	43 %	35 km/h	0.6 mm	High 24
5 Sept	26.4 °C	41 %	32 km/h	0.3 mm	High 23
6 Sept	28.5 °C	38 %	19 km/h	0.8 mm	Moderate 21
7 Sept	28.7 °C	38 %	28 km/h	1.9 mm	Moderate 15
8 Sept	28.9 °C	39 %	52 km/h	2.7 mm	Moderate 14
9 Sept	26.9 °C	39 %	38 km/h	0.1 mm	High 22
10 Sept	27.6 °C	33 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
11 Sept	27.2 °C	39 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
12 Sept	27.3 °C	41 %	30 km/h	1.3 mm	Moderate 16

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 9 Jul 2026

After · 25 Sept 2026

Before After

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 12 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 354 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 200: 13 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak354 µg/m³

Days over the guideline70 days

PM10361 µg/m³

Optical depth2.32

WHO 15

14151617181920212223242526272829303112345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031123456789101112131415161718192021

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 · 4,921Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Angola ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Quibala fire last?: According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 16 July 2026 to 18 September 2026 (65 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 July 2026 to 11 September 2026.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 87,203 hectares (872.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 3 municipalities: Quibala (55,776 ha, 5.4 %); Mussende (22,403 ha, 2.0 %); Andulo (9,609 ha, 1.0 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 30.2 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 52 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

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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

What do you think is wrong?

Dates or duration Place or towns Burned area Name It was not a wildfire Same fire as another page Something else

What really happened?

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We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

How we know this

Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 7 polygons grouped in this page.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 18 July 2026 to 11 September 2026. 4,921 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
We have not matched this page with any official record.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.

Where it burned