Fire near Kunene (AO)

16.17°S, 17.02°E · first detected on 24 September at 13:38

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 24 September at 13:38 to 22 October at 15:29, that is 28 days, through 1,563 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 25,437 ha.

Detected extent: 25,437 ha
Cumulative power: 29,054 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 232 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 1,563
Estimated emissions: 2.9 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 5 October 2026 to 21 October 2026. An order-of-magnitude estimate from GFAS (ECMWF, Copernicus CAMS): it also counts neighbouring fires in the same cell. Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information (2026). Published data stop on 21 October 2026.

These four figures cover the polar orbits alone, the ones that measure an area. The pass table below also counts geostationary detections, more frequent but too coarse for geometry, and its power column sums a whole pass where the peak above is that of a single pixel.

“Detected extent” is not “burned area”: it is the union of the ground footprints of the satellite pixels, and a pixel counts in full (375 m for VIIRS, 1 km for MODIS) even when only a forest edge is burning. Compared with press figures it is in practice one and a half to three times the area reported. Detections taken at the edge of the scan swath, too coarse to measure anything at all, are excluded. These figures come from thermal detection and are not an official assessment: only the emergency services and the competent authorities are authoritative.

Replay how the fire spread

The map is framed on this fire's footprint and loads only its detections. The timeline below covers the period in which satellites saw it, from the first to the last detection, with twelve hours before and twenty-four after; the ticks on the bar mark the emergency services' announcements that fall within it. The cursor opens on the most powerful pass, and playback replays the whole fire in about thirty seconds. “1 h” shows what is burning within an hour of the chosen moment : the map then follows the power curve below and empties when it falls. “24 h” stacks twenty-four hours : a fire stays visible between two satellite passes, which come two to four times a day. Both are true, but they say different things.

How the radiative power evolved

One point per satellite pass: the sum of the fire radiative power measured over the fire. This is the curve that says whether the fire eased off or picked up again, which no cumulative figure shows. The window covers 30 days; beyond that, clustering would merge two successive fires in the same place.

Fire dynamics

Loading history…

Satellite passes in detail

Pass	Power summed over the pass	Detections	Sensor
22 October at 16:42	23 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 16:34	32 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 16:32	11 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:19	50 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 16:19	44 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 15:42	60 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 15:29	36 MW	3	N
22 October at 15:12	32 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 15:02	46 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 14:53	60 MW	5	N21
22 October at 14:42	12 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:32	17 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:12	16 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:10	69 MW	5	N20
22 October at 14:02	34 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 13:52	18 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 13:49	24 MW	4	N
22 October at 13:32	16 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 12:22	14 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 16:42	21 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 16:32	31 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 15:52	13 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 15:12	14 MW	2	N21
21 October at 14:42	29 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 14:32	13 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 14:27	21 MW	2	N20
20 October at 14:46	65 MW	6	N20
20 October at 14:42	44 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 14:32	12 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 14:27	47 MW	7	N
20 October at 14:22	12 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 14:02	13 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 13:51	29 MW	7	N21
20 October at 13:22	14 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 13:12	13 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 13:02	16 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 15:06	74 MW	6	N20
19 October at 14:46	158 MW	12	N
19 October at 14:10	53 MW	4	N21
18 October at 17:01	218 MW	5	Aqua
18 October at 15:25	242 MW	20	N20
18 October at 15:06	237 MW	30	N
18 October at 14:27	216 MW	19	N21
18 October at 13:45	107 MW	9	N20
17 October at 15:23	28 MW	5	N
17 October at 14:49	76 MW	10	N21
17 October at 14:04	76 MW	10	N20
17 October at 13:45	15 MW	3	N
16 October at 15:06	14 MW	3	N21
16 October at 14:21	45 MW	4	N20
16 October at 14:02	78 MW	11	N
15 October at 13:45	32 MW	5	N21
14 October at 14:59	8 MW	1	N20
13 October at 15:21	3 MW	1	N20
13 October at 14:21	10 MW	2	N21
11 October at 14:17	4 MW	1	N20
11 October at 13:55	5 MW	1	N
10 October at 15:21	18 MW	2	N21
8 October at 17:14	30 MW	1	Aqua
8 October at 15:12	8 MW	3	N20
8 October at 14:52	99 MW	7	N
8 October at 14:17	109 MW	8	N21
7 October at 16:37	54 MW	3	Aqua
7 October at 15:31	10 MW	2	N20
7 October at 15:12	51 MW	5	N
7 October at 14:36	46 MW	5	N21
7 October at 13:51	25 MW	5	N20
6 October at 15:29	112 MW	15	N
6 October at 14:53	337 MW	30	N21
6 October at 14:10	336 MW	31	N20
6 October at 13:49	169 MW	24	N
6 October at 01:37	0 MW	1	N20
5 October at 16:59	22 MW	1	Aqua
5 October at 15:12	468 MW	22	N21
5 October at 14:27	157 MW	19	N20
5 October at 14:10	160 MW	18	N
5 October at 13:32	40 MW	7	N21
5 October at 02:39	1 MW	1	N21
4 October at 16:22	24 MW	1	Aqua
4 October at 14:49	357 MW	24	N20
4 October at 14:27	266 MW	16	N
4 October at 13:51	102 MW	9	N21
3 October at 15:06	172 MW	15	N20
3 October at 14:46	482 MW	28	N
3 October at 14:10	287 MW	14	N21
30 September at 15:06	109 MW	14	N21
30 September at 14:21	165 MW	20	N20
30 September at 14:02	305 MW	32	N
29 September at 14:21	106 MW	5	N
29 September at 13:45	63 MW	8	N21
29 September at 02:09	6 MW	3	N20
29 September at 01:50	4 MW	2	N
29 September at 01:14	14 MW	3	N21
28 September at 14:59	3,307 MW	121	N20
28 September at 14:04	3,051 MW	93	N21
28 September at 09:29	151 MW	8	Terra
28 September at 02:28	7 MW	3	N20
28 September at 02:07	9 MW	6	N
28 September at 01:31	1 MW	2	N21
27 September at 16:50	965 MW	26	Aqua
27 September at 15:18	1,375 MW	92	N20
27 September at 14:59	1,803 MW	81	N
27 September at 14:21	1,547 MW	86	N21
27 September at 13:38	842 MW	60	N20
27 September at 04:38	9 MW	1	Aqua
27 September at 02:45	3 MW	2	N20
27 September at 02:28	8 MW	6	N
27 September at 01:50	34 MW	8	N21
26 September at 16:12	63 MW	1	Aqua
26 September at 15:18	835 MW	57	N
26 September at 14:42	780 MW	32	N21
26 September at 13:57	544 MW	69	N20
26 September at 09:48	113 MW	4	Terra
25 September at 17:12	169 MW	5	Aqua
25 September at 15:36	162 MW	11	N
25 September at 14:59	796 MW	41	N21
25 September at 14:17	628 MW	36	N20
25 September at 13:55	586 MW	43	N
25 September at 09:09	7 MW	1	Terra
25 September at 02:28	1 MW	1	N21
25 September at 01:44	1 MW	1	N20
24 September at 16:35	282 MW	2	Aqua
24 September at 14:34	2,477 MW	62	N20
24 September at 14:17	1,519 MW	30	N
24 September at 13:38	580 MW	11	N21

8 other fires near Kunene (AO)

Separate fires, apart in time or in space, not pieces of this one. A single municipality can have several over one summer, and a forest massif often covers more than a hundred square kilometres.

Follow live

The map shows active fires in 3D, with smoke plumes, forecast wind, drop zones and the live position of water bombers tracked by ADS-B, anywhere in the world.

Open the fire map

Take the data of this fire with you

A ready-to-use archive, paid once, no subscription. It contains:

the satellite detections of the fire
the contours of its progression
the drops and the aircraft tracks
the lightning around it
the severity of the burned area, when computed

From €20.00 excl. VAT, six formats to choose from, link valid for 30 days.

Download the data

Pro subscribers: included. €49 excl. VAT a month, no commitment. The public map stays free. Discover GISFire Pro

© 2026 SARO · Gistin. All rights reserved. The interface, its presentation and the contents of GISFire are protected; reproducing or imitating them requires written permission. The source data remain the property of their respective producers, see the credits.

Legal notice · Privacy policy · · GISFire v2.4.2