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Barão de Melgaço fire, August 2019 Barão de Melgaço, Nossa Senhora do Livramento

Out · last detection 24 Sept 2019, 17:51 UTC

The fire started on 29 August 2019 in Barão de Melgaço, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 26 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,971 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 1035th largest in Mato Grosso since 2016 (of 1872 with a page). Number 473 in Brazil in 2019, of 973.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Poconé · 2017Corumbá · 2017Nossa Senhora do Livramento · 2018Nossa Senhora do Livramento · 2017

Burnt area
4,971ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
26days
29 Aug 2019 – 23 Sept 2019
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
29 Aug
2019
Heat detections
309
in a single hotspot: 334 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Average daily power
477MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 29 Aug23 Sept
24 Sept 2019

How it evolved, day by day

29 Aug 2019 · 5 MW · 1 30 Aug 2019 · 34 MW · 1 31 Aug 2019 · 3 MW · 1 1 Sept 2019 · 14 MW · 2 3 Sept 2019 · 21 MW · 2 5 Sept 2019 · 8 MW · 1 6 Sept 2019 · 40 MW · 3 7 Sept 2019 · 4,623 MW · 80 8 Sept 2019 · 382 MW · 17 9 Sept 2019 · 1,889 MW · 36 10 Sept 2019 · 1,352 MW · 43 11 Sept 2019 · 413 MW · 27 12 Sept 2019 · 392 MW · 24 13 Sept 2019 · 25 MW · 6 14 Sept 2019 · 45 MW · 2 15 Sept 2019 · 90 MW · 7 16 Sept 2019 · 269 MW · 16 17 Sept 2019 · 6 MW · 1 18 Sept 2019 · 7 MW · 1 20 Sept 2019 · 912 MW · 19 21 Sept 2019 · 275 MW · 11 23 Sept 2019 · 14 MW · 2 24 Sept 2019 · 141 MW · 6
29 Aug 7 Sept 15 Sept 21 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

41°high
47km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

It had gone 24 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 12.0 mm on 25 Sept.

This area had burned before

54% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 509 ha in 2016, 2,712 ha in 2017, 26 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,702 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 3.1% of the area of London (50 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. Barão de Melgaço 15,246 inhabitants where it started
    4,912 ha reached on 29 Aug
    0.4 %
  2. Nossa Senhora do Livramento
    79 ha reached on 16 Sept
    0.0 %

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 2020
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, 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.

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)
29 Aug 36.5 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
30 Aug 38.8 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
31 Aug 38.7 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
1 Sept 33.8 °C 48 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
2 Sept 34.4 °C 46 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
3 Sept 37.6 °C 35 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
4 Sept 38.1 °C 32 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
5 Sept 39.0 °C 30 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
6 Sept 40.2 °C 24 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
7 Sept 40.0 °C 23 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Sept 39.7 °C 23 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
9 Sept 39.6 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
10 Sept 39.3 °C 19 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
11 Sept 39.7 °C 24 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
12 Sept 36.5 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
13 Sept 32.8 °C 45 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
14 Sept 38.7 °C 33 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
15 Sept 40.2 °C 27 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Sept 41.0 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
17 Sept 40.3 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
18 Sept 40.4 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
19 Sept 39.0 °C 33 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
20 Sept 40.7 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
21 Sept 37.8 °C 39 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
22 Sept 34.8 °C 44 % 29 km/h 1.1 mm High 22
23 Sept 40.1 °C 34 % 28 km/h 1.3 mm High 28
24 Sept after 38.8 °C 38 % 26 km/h 0.3 mm High 32
25 Sept after 33.9 °C 52 % 35 km/h 12.0 mm Low 7

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 32.0, a minimum humidity of 29% and 24 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 18.

FWI at the start 32.0
Minimum humidity 29 %
Days without rain 24
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Poconé fire, September 2017
3,413 ha 11 days FWI 32.7 Min. humidity 28 % 22 km away, in 2017

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

13 days
median duration
4,534 ha
median area
17 %
went past 10,000 ha
1.7 mm
rain at the end (median; 15 of 18 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (4,971 ha against a median of 4,534 ha) and lasted 26 days, against 13 days.

In 3 of 18, 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 1.7 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

12.0 mmfirst rain
25 Sept2 days after it ended
47km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 23 Sept, and on 25 Sept 12.0 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 15 of 18, with a median of 1.7 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 · 22 Aug 2019
After · 30 Sept 2019

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 · 309Every 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 Barão de Melgaço fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 29 August 2019 to 23 September 2019 (26 days). The perimeter dates it from 31 August 2019 to 16 September 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 4,971 hectares (49.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Barão de Melgaço (4,912 ha, 0.4 %); Nossa Senhora do Livramento (79 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 41.0 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, class Very high.
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: 18. Their median duration was 13 days and their median area 4,534 ha; 17 % went past 10,000 ha. In 3 of 18, 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 1.7 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 2019 → 23 September 2019.
  2. Start date: 31 August 2019 → 29 August 2019.

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 31 August 2019 to 16 September 2019. 309 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 2020, 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.