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Barra fire, August 2025 Barra

Out · last detection 17 Oct 2025, 17:24 UTC

The fire started on 28 August 2025 in Barra, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 51 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 65,009 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

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.

It is the 3th largest in Bahia since 2016 (of 466 with a page). Number 2 in Brazil in 2025, of 714.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Wanderley · 2021Barra · 2023Barra · 2022Barra · 2017

Burnt area
65,009ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
51days
28 Aug 2025 – 17 Oct 2025
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
28 Aug
2025
Heat detections
3,739
in a single hotspot: 507 MW
Danger at start
47
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
1.5GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 28 Aug17 Oct
17 Oct 2025

How it evolved, day by day

28 Aug 2025 · 3,076 MW · 96 29 Aug 2025 · 3,168 MW · 105 30 Aug 2025 · 6,635 MW · 312 31 Aug 2025 · 3,248 MW · 258 1 Sept 2025 · 1,213 MW · 111 2 Sept 2025 · 887 MW · 52 3 Sept 2025 · 393 MW · 24 4 Sept 2025 · 2,175 MW · 31 5 Sept 2025 · 431 MW · 46 6 Sept 2025 · 1,348 MW · 61 7 Sept 2025 · 861 MW · 85 8 Sept 2025 · 2,770 MW · 99 9 Sept 2025 · 1,710 MW · 159 10 Sept 2025 · 16,318 MW · 341 11 Sept 2025 · 3,694 MW · 322 12 Sept 2025 · 2,075 MW · 102 13 Sept 2025 · 1,246 MW · 100 14 Sept 2025 · 1,360 MW · 84 15 Sept 2025 · 3,650 MW · 177 16 Sept 2025 · 527 MW · 59 17 Sept 2025 · 468 MW · 42 18 Sept 2025 · 934 MW · 63 19 Sept 2025 · 92 MW · 13 20 Sept 2025 · 143 MW · 11 21 Sept 2025 · 1,502 MW · 83 22 Sept 2025 · 1,122 MW · 56 23 Sept 2025 · 1,000 MW · 83 24 Sept 2025 · 666 MW · 35 25 Sept 2025 · 788 MW · 36 26 Sept 2025 · 465 MW · 40 27 Sept 2025 · 41 MW · 15 28 Sept 2025 · 479 MW · 24 29 Sept 2025 · 783 MW · 42 30 Sept 2025 · 731 MW · 52 1 Oct 2025 · 2,206 MW · 124 2 Oct 2025 · 1,115 MW · 77 3 Oct 2025 · 1,616 MW · 54 4 Oct 2025 · 1,020 MW · 67 5 Oct 2025 · 312 MW · 21 6 Oct 2025 · 2 MW · 2 7 Oct 2025 · 719 MW · 25 8 Oct 2025 · 385 MW · 27 9 Oct 2025 · 228 MW · 21 10 Oct 2025 · 35 MW · 2 11 Oct 2025 · 83 MW · 12 12 Oct 2025 · 27 MW · 6 13 Oct 2025 · 98 MW · 4 14 Oct 2025 · 20 MW · 10 15 Oct 2025 · 186 MW · 8 16 Oct 2025 · 98 MW · 12 17 Oct 2025 · 118 MW · 11
28 Aug 5 Sept 10 Sept 13 Sept 21 Sept 29 Sept 7 Oct 15 Oct

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
51km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 3 Nov.

This area had burned before

94% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,919 ha in 2017, 60,041 ha in 2021, 2,264 ha in 2022, 10,120 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 61,051 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 41% of the area of London (650 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. Barra 51,092 inhabitants where it started
    65,489 ha reached on 27 Aug
    5.7 %

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 34.4 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
28 Aug 33.9 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
29 Aug 33.6 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
30 Aug 34.0 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
31 Aug 34.3 °C 20 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Sept 34.5 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
2 Sept 33.7 °C 20 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
3 Sept 32.6 °C 24 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
4 Sept 32.6 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
5 Sept 33.7 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
6 Sept 34.8 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
7 Sept 34.2 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
8 Sept 34.5 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
9 Sept 34.4 °C 18 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
10 Sept 36.7 °C 12 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
11 Sept 36.4 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
12 Sept 36.5 °C 12 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
13 Sept 35.8 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
14 Sept 35.9 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
15 Sept 35.5 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
16 Sept 34.7 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
17 Sept 35.9 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
18 Sept 35.8 °C 21 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
19 Sept 35.9 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
20 Sept 34.6 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
21 Sept 36.7 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
22 Sept 36.6 °C 21 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
23 Sept 36.7 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.1 mm Extreme 52
24 Sept 36.4 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
25 Sept 36.0 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
26 Sept 35.0 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
27 Sept 34.2 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
28 Sept 34.5 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
29 Sept 35.9 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
30 Sept 35.6 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
1 Oct 34.9 °C 14 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
2 Oct 35.6 °C 17 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
3 Oct 34.8 °C 20 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
4 Oct 33.9 °C 19 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
5 Oct 35.9 °C 21 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
6 Oct 35.3 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
7 Oct 36.1 °C 21 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
8 Oct 36.4 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
9 Oct 36.3 °C 19 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
10 Oct 35.7 °C 20 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
11 Oct 35.8 °C 20 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
12 Oct 36.4 °C 21 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
13 Oct 36.0 °C 23 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
14 Oct 36.4 °C 20 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm Extreme 55
15 Oct 36.7 °C 14 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
16 Oct 37.6 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
17 Oct 36.5 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
18 Oct after 38.0 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
19 Oct after 37.5 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm Extreme 56
20 Oct after 32.5 °C 42 % 39 km/h 33.9 mm Low 7
21 Oct after 28.0 °C 52 % 40 km/h 7.5 mm Very low 5
22 Oct after 30.5 °C 40 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
23 Oct after 29.2 °C 40 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
24 Oct after 31.1 °C 34 % 44 km/h 0.1 mm High 28
25 Oct after 33.0 °C 28 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm High 31
26 Oct after 34.4 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
27 Oct after 34.5 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Oct after 34.3 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Oct after 35.1 °C 26 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
30 Oct after 35.7 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
31 Oct after 35.2 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
1 Nov after 34.1 °C 35 % 28 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
2 Nov after 34.5 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.9 mm High 31
3 Nov after 34.0 °C 33 % 37 km/h 1.1 mm High 27

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 21 Aug 2025
After · 24 Oct 2025

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 19 October 2025 the air beside the fire reached 75 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 38: 2.6 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak75 µg/m³
Days over the guideline6 days
PM1078 µg/m³
Optical depth1.29
252627282930311234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829301234567891011121314151617181920
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 · 3,739Every 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 Barra fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 August 2025 and 17 October 2025: 51 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 65,009 hectares (650.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Barra (65,489 ha, 5.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.0 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 62, 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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 3,739 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.

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.