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Saurimo fire, 15 July 2017 Saurimo, Cambulo

Out · last detection 26 Jul 2017, 11:20 UTC

The fire started on 15 July 2017 in Saurimo, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 22,834 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 7th largest in Lunda Sul since 2016 (of 240 with a page). Number 3 in Angola in 2017, of 158.

Burnt area
22,834ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
12days
15 Jul 2017 – 26 Jul 2017
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
15 Jul
2017
Heat detections
854
in a single hotspot: 186 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Energy released
11.4GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

26 Jul 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Jul26 Jul

How it evolved, day by day

151617181920212223242526

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
40km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 51 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: 16,484 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 15,699 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Saurimo where it started
    20,979 ha reached on 8 Jul
    0.9 %
  2. Cambulo
    1,949 ha reached on 13 Jul
    0.2 %

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)
8 Jul 31.9 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
9 Jul 32.9 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
10 Jul 33.9 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
11 Jul 31.9 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
12 Jul 32.0 °C 22 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
13 Jul 32.5 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Jul 31.6 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
15 Jul 33.0 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
16 Jul 32.7 °C 19 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
17 Jul 34.3 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
18 Jul 32.4 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
19 Jul 33.0 °C 17 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Jul 33.8 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
21 Jul 33.2 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
22 Jul 34.0 °C 18 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
23 Jul 33.4 °C 18 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
24 Jul 33.4 °C 17 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
25 Jul 33.8 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
26 Jul 32.4 °C 22 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
27 Jul after 30.8 °C 30 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
28 Jul after 32.4 °C 21 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
29 Jul after 31.8 °C 19 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
30 Jul after 32.7 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
31 Jul after 34.4 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
1 Aug after 34.1 °C 17 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
2 Aug after 32.7 °C 23 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Aug after 33.1 °C 21 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Aug after 33.1 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
5 Aug after 34.3 °C 15 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Jul 2017
After · 2 Aug 2017

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 · 854Every 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 Saurimo fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 July 2017 and 26 July 2017: 12 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 22,834 hectares (228.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Saurimo (20,979 ha, 0.9 %); Cambulo (1,949 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.3 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, 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.