Xá-Muteba fire, 14 May 2026 Xá-Muteba, Quela
The fire started on 14 May 2026 in Xá-Muteba, Angola, and satellites saw it burning for 56 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 75,654 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 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:
- 19,485 haQuelaJune 2026 · 14 days
- 12,657 haXá-Muteba20 May 2026 · 33 days
- 12,149 haXá-Muteba13 June 2026 · 25 days
- 11,776 haXá-Muteba14 June 2026 · 27 days
- 10,464 haXá-Muteba4 June 2026 · 12 days
- 6,297 haQuela4 July 2026 · 10 days
- 6,192 haXá-Muteba4 June 2026 · 15 days
- 6,167 haXá-Muteba5 June 2026 · 18 days
It is the 4th largest in Lunda Norte since 2016 (of 411 with a page). Number 9 in Angola in 2026, of 487.
Compare with…
- Burnt area
- 75,654ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 56days
- 14 May 2026 – 8 Jul 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 14 May
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 3,811
- in a single hotspot: 256 MW
- Danger at start
- 9
- Low · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 872MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
92% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 37,260 ha in 2016, 16,364 ha in 2017, 28,873 ha in 2018, 30,951 ha in 2019, 20,807 ha in 2020, 20,019 ha in 2021, 35,897 ha in 2022, 21,413 ha in 2023, 18,031 ha in 2024, 13,389 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 69,416 ha that had burned before.
- 7,718 ha Xá-Muteba fire, May 2016 9,876 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 6,702 ha Xá-Muteba fire, May 2019 13,727 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,923 ha Xá-Muteba fire, May 2022 9,614 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,490 ha Xá-Muteba fire, May 2016 9,526 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,194 ha Xá-Muteba fire, May 2022 5,122 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,461 ha Xá-Muteba fire, May 2019 8,452 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,328 ha Xá-Muteba fire, May 2020 5,698 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 161 ha Xá-Muteba fire, June 2016 5,334 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Xá-Muteba where it started75,811 ha reached on 14 May5.4 %
-
321 ha reached on 30 May0.1 %
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 2025Inside the perimeter there were about 3.4 hectares of built-up land and about 400 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 May | 33.6 °C | 37 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 15 May | 33.2 °C | 32 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 16 May | 32.9 °C | 35 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 17 May | 32.7 °C | 38 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 11 |
| 18 May | 32.5 °C | 37 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 19 May | 31.9 °C | 38 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 20 May | 32.2 °C | 40 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 21 May | 33.2 °C | 34 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 22 May | 33.8 °C | 28 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 23 May | 33.2 °C | 34 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 24 May | 33.8 °C | 28 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 25 May | 33.3 °C | 32 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 26 May | 33.2 °C | 33 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 27 May | 33.0 °C | 28 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 28 May | 32.4 °C | 28 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 29 May | 32.8 °C | 29 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 30 May | 33.1 °C | 28 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 31 May | 32.6 °C | 26 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 1 Jun | 32.3 °C | 26 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 2 Jun | 32.8 °C | 28 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 3 Jun | 32.9 °C | 27 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 4 Jun | 32.2 °C | 24 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 5 Jun | 32.5 °C | 24 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 6 Jun | 33.8 °C | 25 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 7 Jun | 34.4 °C | 25 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 8 Jun | 34.1 °C | 28 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 9 Jun | 33.8 °C | 20 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 10 Jun | 33.9 °C | 22 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 11 Jun | 34.1 °C | 24 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 12 Jun | 33.6 °C | 24 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 13 Jun | 31.9 °C | 20 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 14 Jun | 32.3 °C | 22 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 15 Jun | 32.1 °C | 27 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 16 Jun | 32.9 °C | 30 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 17 Jun | 32.6 °C | 32 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 18 Jun | 30.4 °C | 42 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 19 Jun | 31.0 °C | 41 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 20 Jun | 33.5 °C | 34 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 21 Jun | 33.2 °C | 37 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 22 Jun | 32.6 °C | 33 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 23 Jun | 33.0 °C | 28 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 24 Jun | 33.2 °C | 24 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 25 Jun | 32.8 °C | 24 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 26 Jun | 32.6 °C | 25 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 27 Jun | 32.6 °C | 29 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 28 Jun | 31.6 °C | 35 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 29 Jun | 33.2 °C | 29 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 30 Jun | 33.0 °C | 27 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 1 Jul | 33.1 °C | 25 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 2 Jul | 32.9 °C | 30 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 3 Jul | 33.0 °C | 29 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 4 Jul | 34.5 °C | 17 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 5 Jul | 33.9 °C | 20 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 6 Jul | 33.2 °C | 20 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 7 Jul | 32.9 °C | 20 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 8 Jul | 31.9 °C | 24 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 9 Jul after | 32.5 °C | 22 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 10 Jul after | 32.5 °C | 22 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 11 Jul after | 32.4 °C | 23 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 12 Jul after | 33.6 °C | 19 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 13 Jul after | 33.6 °C | 19 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 14 Jul after | 34.5 °C | 15 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 15 Jul after | 33.7 °C | 23 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 16 Jul after | 31.9 °C | 21 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 17 Jul after | 31.1 °C | 19 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 18 Jul after | 31.5 °C | 18 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 27 June 2026 the air beside the fire reached 141 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 83: 5.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 3,811Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 9,614 haXá-Muteba22 May 2022 · 22 days · 13 km away
- 13,727 haXá-Muteba25 May 2019 · 23 days · 15 km away
- 9,876 haXá-Muteba8 May 2016 · 21 days · 15 km away
- 10,464 haXá-Muteba4 June 2026 · 12 days · 30 km away
- 12,657 haXá-Muteba20 May 2026 · 33 days · 34 km away
- 19,485 haQuelaJune 2026 · 14 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Xá-Muteba fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 14 May 2026 to 8 July 2026 (56 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 May 2026 to 1 July 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 75,654 hectares (756.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Xá-Muteba (75,811 ha, 5.4 %); Quela (321 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.5 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 47, 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
History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
- Last day with fire: 1 July 2026 → 8 July 2026.
- Start date: 18 May 2026 → 14 May 2026.
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 9 polygons grouped in this page.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 18 May 2026 to 1 July 2026. 3,811 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.
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.