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Baliza fire, August 2017 Baliza, Ribeirãozinho, Torixoréu

Out · last detection 13 Sept 2017, 17:45 UTC

The fire started on 28 August 2017 in Baliza, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 25,506 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 14th largest in Goiás since 2016 (of 548 with a page). Number 50 in Brazil in 2017, of 994.

Burnt area
25,506ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
17days
28 Aug 2017 – 13 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
28 Aug
2017
Heat detections
1,125
in a single hotspot: 149 MW
Danger at start
38
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
9.4GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

13 Sept 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 28 Aug13 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

2829303112345678910111213

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
47km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 6 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Baliza 3,351 inhabitants where it started
    24,920 ha reached on 28 Aug
    14 %
  2. Ribeirãozinho 2,593 inhabitants
    694 ha reached on 1 Sept
    1.1 %
  3. Torixoréu 4,164 inhabitants
    39 ha
    0.0 %

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)
27 Aug 33.8 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
28 Aug 35.3 °C 19 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
29 Aug 35.0 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
30 Aug 35.5 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
31 Aug 35.8 °C 19 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
1 Sept 35.3 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
2 Sept 33.5 °C 22 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
3 Sept 32.5 °C 25 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
4 Sept 31.3 °C 24 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
5 Sept 31.8 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
6 Sept 32.2 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
7 Sept 34.0 °C 21 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
8 Sept 35.0 °C 20 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
9 Sept 35.0 °C 20 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
10 Sept 34.2 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
11 Sept 35.9 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
12 Sept 34.9 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
13 Sept 33.5 °C 20 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
14 Sept after 34.2 °C 19 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
15 Sept after 34.4 °C 22 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
16 Sept after 34.9 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
17 Sept after 33.6 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
18 Sept after 33.7 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
19 Sept after 35.0 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
20 Sept after 34.7 °C 17 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
21 Sept after 33.9 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.1 mm Extreme 51
22 Sept after 33.2 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
23 Sept after 33.6 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 21 Aug 2017
After · 20 Sept 2017

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 · 1,125Every 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 Baliza fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 August 2017 and 13 September 2017: 17 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 25,506 hectares (255.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Baliza (24,920 ha, 14 %); Ribeirãozinho (694 ha, 1.1 %); Torixoréu (39 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.9 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 54, 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.

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

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
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.

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.