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Barra do Corda fire, August 2017 Grajaú, Barra do Corda, Jenipapo dos Vieiras

Out · last detection 11 Oct 2017, 04:45 UTC

The fire started on 16 August 2017 in Barra do Corda, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 56 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 100,645 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

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.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the largest fire in Maranhão since 2016 (of 607 with a page). Number 4 in Brazil in 2017, of 994.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Grajaú · 2016Grajaú · 2016Grajaú · 2016Grajaú · 2025

Burnt area
100,645ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
56days
16 Aug 2017 – 10 Oct 2017
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
16 Aug
2017
Heat detections
6,390
in a single hotspot: 452 MW
Danger at start
31
High · FWI index
Average daily power
1.8GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Aug10 Oct
11 Oct 2017

How it evolved, day by day

16 Aug 2017 · 11 MW · 1 17 Aug 2017 · 15 MW · 1 19 Aug 2017 · 11 MW · 2 20 Aug 2017 · 48 MW · 9 21 Aug 2017 · 182 MW · 16 22 Aug 2017 · 26 MW · 3 23 Aug 2017 · 629 MW · 32 24 Aug 2017 · 287 MW · 40 25 Aug 2017 · 644 MW · 51 26 Aug 2017 · 1,315 MW · 93 27 Aug 2017 · 2,725 MW · 170 28 Aug 2017 · 6,896 MW · 160 29 Aug 2017 · 233 MW · 37 30 Aug 2017 · 2,717 MW · 139 31 Aug 2017 · 2,642 MW · 156 1 Sept 2017 · 404 MW · 56 2 Sept 2017 · 9,422 MW · 158 3 Sept 2017 · 3,999 MW · 229 4 Sept 2017 · 3,704 MW · 340 5 Sept 2017 · 1,449 MW · 267 6 Sept 2017 · 5,227 MW · 263 7 Sept 2017 · 4,521 MW · 112 8 Sept 2017 · 2,078 MW · 164 9 Sept 2017 · 4,380 MW · 312 10 Sept 2017 · 4,900 MW · 386 11 Sept 2017 · 3,558 MW · 279 12 Sept 2017 · 5,130 MW · 379 13 Sept 2017 · 452 MW · 51 14 Sept 2017 · 863 MW · 72 15 Sept 2017 · 1,404 MW · 182 16 Sept 2017 · 5,040 MW · 241 17 Sept 2017 · 2,648 MW · 221 18 Sept 2017 · 799 MW · 60 19 Sept 2017 · 1,402 MW · 123 20 Sept 2017 · 2,661 MW · 144 21 Sept 2017 · 4,126 MW · 258 22 Sept 2017 · 4,348 MW · 236 23 Sept 2017 · 1,962 MW · 151 24 Sept 2017 · 949 MW · 65 25 Sept 2017 · 534 MW · 59 26 Sept 2017 · 2,356 MW · 181 27 Sept 2017 · 2,147 MW · 154 28 Sept 2017 · 1,553 MW · 167 29 Sept 2017 · 18 MW · 10 30 Sept 2017 · 329 MW · 21 1 Oct 2017 · 128 MW · 30 2 Oct 2017 · 430 MW · 44 3 Oct 2017 · 73 MW · 11 4 Oct 2017 · 43 MW · 6 5 Oct 2017 · 81 MW · 5 6 Oct 2017 · 26 MW · 7 7 Oct 2017 · 104 MW · 17 8 Oct 2017 · 15 MW · 3 9 Oct 2017 · 101 MW · 2 10 Oct 2017 · 152 MW · 8 11 Oct 2017 · 6 MW · 6
16 Aug 25 Aug 2 Sept 10 Sept 18 Sept 26 Sept 4 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
54km/h · peak gust
28%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 16 Oct.

This area had burned before

28% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 28,535 ha in 2016.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 64% of the area of London (1,006 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. Grajaú 73,872 inhabitants
    98,702 ha reached on 16 Aug
    11 %
  2. Barra do Corda 84,532 inhabitants where it started
    2,249 ha reached on 17 Aug
    0.4 %
  3. Jenipapo dos Vieiras 17,076 inhabitants
    374 ha reached on 20 Aug
    0.2 %

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 2015
Built-up area6.2 ha
Residents≈ 850

Inside the perimeter there were about 6.2 hectares of built-up land and about 850 residents (GHSL 2015, 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)
16 Aug 34.8 °C 34 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
17 Aug 34.7 °C 38 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
18 Aug 35.1 °C 38 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
19 Aug 36.6 °C 31 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
20 Aug 35.1 °C 41 % 32 km/h 0.5 mm High 33
21 Aug 34.7 °C 43 % 34 km/h 0.2 mm High 29
22 Aug 35.3 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
23 Aug 35.0 °C 30 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
24 Aug 34.5 °C 40 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Aug 34.9 °C 39 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
26 Aug 36.0 °C 31 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
27 Aug 35.3 °C 36 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Aug 36.2 °C 31 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Aug 35.8 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
30 Aug 36.9 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 Aug 37.4 °C 32 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
1 Sept 35.6 °C 38 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
2 Sept 35.7 °C 34 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
3 Sept 35.2 °C 29 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
4 Sept 34.9 °C 32 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
5 Sept 35.0 °C 33 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Sept 35.5 °C 38 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
7 Sept 35.3 °C 40 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
8 Sept 36.6 °C 35 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
9 Sept 35.9 °C 31 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
10 Sept 36.5 °C 30 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
11 Sept 36.2 °C 32 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
12 Sept 36.5 °C 30 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
13 Sept 35.3 °C 37 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
14 Sept 36.8 °C 34 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
15 Sept 36.5 °C 30 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
16 Sept 35.6 °C 28 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
17 Sept 35.8 °C 31 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
18 Sept 36.4 °C 33 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
19 Sept 37.5 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
20 Sept 36.9 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
21 Sept 37.1 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
22 Sept 36.4 °C 31 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
23 Sept 36.7 °C 31 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
24 Sept 36.6 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Sept 35.3 °C 36 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Sept 38.0 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
27 Sept 37.3 °C 32 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 Sept 37.7 °C 31 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
29 Sept 38.2 °C 31 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
30 Sept 36.4 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm High 37
1 Oct 36.7 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
2 Oct 37.3 °C 37 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Oct 38.1 °C 37 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
4 Oct 37.8 °C 29 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Oct 37.5 °C 31 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
6 Oct 37.9 °C 30 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
7 Oct 36.6 °C 34 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
8 Oct 36.8 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
9 Oct 35.4 °C 41 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm High 32
10 Oct 34.7 °C 41 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Oct after 36.5 °C 37 % 45 km/h 0.2 mm High 34
12 Oct after 36.5 °C 43 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
13 Oct after 36.8 °C 39 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
14 Oct after 36.8 °C 40 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm High 33
15 Oct after 35.1 °C 48 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
16 Oct after 34.3 °C 53 % 32 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 18

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 Aug 2017
After · 17 Oct 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 · 6,390Every 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 do Corda fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 16 August 2017 to 10 October 2017 (56 days). The perimeter dates it from 19 August 2017 to 3 October 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 100,645 hectares (1,006.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Grajaú (98,702 ha, 11 %); Barra do Corda (2,249 ha, 0.4 %); Jenipapo dos Vieiras (374 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.2 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, 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.

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 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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.

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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; 10 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 19 August 2017 to 3 October 2017. 6,390 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 2015, 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.