Saurimo fire, 28 July 2023 Saurimo, Muconda
The fire started on 28 July 2023 in Saurimo, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,035 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 155th largest in Lunda Sul since 2016 (of 240 with a page). Number 102 in Angola in 2023, of 158.
- Burnt area
- 6,035ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 28 Jul 2023 – 1 Aug 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 28 Jul
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 143
- in a single hotspot: 176 MW
- Danger at start
- 44
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 5.8GW
- 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
98% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,436 ha in 2016, 2,949 ha in 2017, 2,321 ha in 2018, 994 ha in 2019, 2,103 ha in 2020, 2,602 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,888 ha that had burned before.
- 1,966 ha Saurimo fire, July 2016 5,353 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 152 ha Muconda fire, July 2020 11,513 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 80 ha Muconda fire, August 2017 6,032 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 13 ha Saurimo fire, July 2016 5,027 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Saurimo where it started6,018 ha reached on 28 Jul0.2 %
-
68 ha reached on 1 Aug0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Jul | 31.2 °C | 17 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 29 Jul | 32.6 °C | 14 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 30 Jul | 33.5 °C | 14 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 31 Jul | 30.7 °C | 16 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 1 Aug | 30.5 °C | 15 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 2 Aug after | 30.4 °C | 19 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 3 Aug after | 29.7 °C | 21 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 4 Aug after | 29.0 °C | 18 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 5 Aug after | 28.2 °C | 18 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 6 Aug after | 29.2 °C | 22 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 7 Aug after | 29.9 °C | 23 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 8 Aug after | 30.5 °C | 19 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 9 Aug after | 30.9 °C | 19 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 10 Aug after | 30.9 °C | 16 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 11 Aug after | 31.0 °C | 16 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
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 · 143Every 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 28 July 2023 and 1 August 2023: 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 6,035 hectares (60.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Saurimo (6,018 ha, 0.2 %); Muconda (68 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.5 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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.