Saurimo fire, June 2021 Saurimo
The fire started on 21 June 2021 in Saurimo, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,502 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 134th largest in Lunda Sul since 2016 (of 240 with a page). Number 77 in Angola in 2021, of 126.
- Burnt area
- 6,502ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 21 Jun 2021 – 25 Jun 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 21 Jun
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 166
- in a single hotspot: 39 MW
- Danger at start
- 40
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.4GW
- 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 44 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 6,065 ha in 2016, 3,402 ha in 2017, 4,990 ha in 2018, 3,910 ha in 2019, 5,541 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,540 ha that had burned before.
- 5,541 ha Saurimo fire, June 2020 21,790 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,990 ha Saurimo fire, July 2018 15,771 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,554 ha Saurimo fire, June 2016 12,320 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,456 ha Saurimo fire, June 2019 5,045 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Saurimo where it started6,525 ha reached on 19 Jun0.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Jun | 30.3 °C | 28 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 22 Jun | 30.2 °C | 27 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 23 Jun | 31.5 °C | 25 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 24 Jun | 32.2 °C | 25 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 25 Jun | 31.4 °C | 29 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 26 Jun after | 31.3 °C | 26 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 27 Jun after | 32.0 °C | 20 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 28 Jun after | 31.3 °C | 19 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 29 Jun after | 31.4 °C | 22 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 30 Jun after | 29.6 °C | 24 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 1 Jul after | 31.0 °C | 21 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 2 Jul after | 31.7 °C | 19 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 3 Jul after | 31.6 °C | 17 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 4 Jul after | 31.8 °C | 18 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 5 Jul after | 31.3 °C | 19 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
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 · 166Every 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 Saurimo fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 June 2021 and 25 June 2021: 5 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 6,502 hectares (65.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Saurimo (6,525 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.2 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, 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.