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BR · Brazil · –

Altamira fire, 19 August 2024 Altamira

Out · last detection 18 Sept 2024, 17:09 UTC

The fire started on 19 August 2024 in Altamira, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 31 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 18,020 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 96th largest in Pará since 2016 (of 957 with a page). Number 161 in Brazil in 2024, of 1301.

Burnt area
18,020ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
31days
19 Aug 2024 – 18 Sept 2024
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
19 Aug
2024
Heat detections
1,225
in a single hotspot: 351 MW
Danger at start
40
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
830MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Aug18 Sept
18 Sept 2024

How it evolved, day by day

19 Aug 2024 · 5 MW · 1 21 Aug 2024 · 69 MW · 11 22 Aug 2024 · 102 MW · 8 23 Aug 2024 · 282 MW · 9 24 Aug 2024 · 1,071 MW · 15 25 Aug 2024 · 700 MW · 61 26 Aug 2024 · 147 MW · 41 27 Aug 2024 · 106 MW · 8 28 Aug 2024 · 171 MW · 8 29 Aug 2024 · 105 MW · 10 30 Aug 2024 · 197 MW · 17 31 Aug 2024 · 453 MW · 31 1 Sept 2024 · 1,649 MW · 59 2 Sept 2024 · 2,835 MW · 81 3 Sept 2024 · 798 MW · 26 4 Sept 2024 · 2,967 MW · 66 5 Sept 2024 · 7,453 MW · 122 6 Sept 2024 · 1,385 MW · 146 7 Sept 2024 · 937 MW · 85 8 Sept 2024 · 2,112 MW · 101 9 Sept 2024 · 197 MW · 48 10 Sept 2024 · 226 MW · 46 11 Sept 2024 · 321 MW · 78 12 Sept 2024 · 411 MW · 105 13 Sept 2024 · 105 MW · 14 14 Sept 2024 · 22 MW · 5 15 Sept 2024 · 6 MW · 2 16 Sept 2024 · 45 MW · 19 17 Sept 2024 · 9 MW · 1 18 Sept 2024 · 13 MW · 1
19 Aug 26 Aug 5 Sept 13 Sept

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
44km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 23 Sept.

This area had burned before

53% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,279 ha in 2016, 5,625 ha in 2019, 7,814 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 9,632 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 11% of the area of London (180 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Altamira 126,279 inhabitants where it started
    18,244 ha reached on 19 Aug
    0.1 %

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 2025
Built-up area0.51 ha
Residents≈ 30

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.51 hectares of built-up land and about 30 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)

Started with 60 days without rain: 55 % of the area in Brazil

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
19 Aug 35.1 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
20 Aug 34.7 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
21 Aug 35.4 °C 21 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
22 Aug 34.8 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Aug 35.4 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
24 Aug 35.6 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Aug 35.3 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
26 Aug 32.4 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
27 Aug 35.4 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
28 Aug 36.5 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
29 Aug 35.0 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
30 Aug 35.0 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
31 Aug 35.6 °C 23 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
1 Sept 36.5 °C 16 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
2 Sept 36.1 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
3 Sept 34.3 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
4 Sept 36.5 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
5 Sept 37.8 °C 10 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
6 Sept 36.2 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
7 Sept 35.6 °C 21 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
8 Sept 35.5 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
9 Sept 36.3 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
10 Sept 35.3 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
11 Sept 35.2 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
12 Sept 35.9 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
13 Sept 36.5 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
14 Sept 36.2 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
15 Sept 35.5 °C 28 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
16 Sept 35.2 °C 31 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
17 Sept 36.8 °C 22 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
18 Sept 34.4 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 39
19 Sept after 34.3 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
20 Sept after 37.1 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
21 Sept after 34.5 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
22 Sept after 35.2 °C 34 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
23 Sept after 34.4 °C 37 % 31 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 21

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 39.8, a minimum humidity of 26% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 19.

FWI at the start 39.8
Minimum humidity 26 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Novo Progresso fire, September 2020
3,276 ha 6 days FWI 39.3 Min. humidity 25 % 42 km away, in 2020

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 10.6 mm on 21 Sept.

What happened to them

15 days
median duration
5,248 ha
median area
16 %
went past 10,000 ha
4.8 mm
rain at the end (median; 10 of 19 had it)

It was 3.4 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 31 days, against 15 days.

Only 1 of its 19 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 9 of 19, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 4.8 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

1.3 mmfirst rain
23 Sept5 days after it ended
44km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 18 Sept, and on 23 Sept 1.3 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 10 of 19, with a median of 4.8 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Aug 2024
After · 25 Sept 2024

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 · Copernicus

On 3 September 2024 the air beside the fire reached 292 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 188: 13 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak292 µg/m³
Days over the guideline46 days
PM10418 µg/m³
Optical depth2.95
12 Aug22 Aug1 Sept11 Sept21 Sept
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 1,225Every 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 Brazil

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Altamira fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 19 August 2024 to 18 September 2024 (31 days). The perimeter dates it from 21 August 2024 to 16 September 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 18,020 hectares (180.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Altamira (18,244 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.8 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 56, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Brazil (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 19. Their median duration was 15 days and their median area 5,248 ha; 16 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 1 of its 19 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 9 of 19, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 4.8 mm.

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.

Emergency number: 193 · Emergency number and official warnings

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.
  1. Last day with fire: 16 September 2024 → 18 September 2024.
  2. Start date: 21 August 2024 → 19 August 2024.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 193.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 21 August 2024 to 16 September 2024. 1,225 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.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). 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.