Skip to content
worldfires
BR · Brazil · –

Buritirama fire, 11 September 2021 Mansidão, Buritirama

Out · last detection 10 Oct 2021, 16:06 UTC

The fire started on 11 September 2021 in Buritirama, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 31 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 17,329 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 32th largest in Bahia since 2016 (of 386 with a page). Number 70 in Brazil in 2021, of 814.

Burnt area
17,329ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
31days
11 Sept 2021 – 11 Oct 2021
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
11 Sept
2021
Heat detections
963
in a single hotspot: 558 MW
Danger at start
49
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
954MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 11 Sept11 Oct
10 Oct 2021

How it evolved, day by day

11 Sept 2021 · 9 MW · 3 12 Sept 2021 · 9 MW · 1 13 Sept 2021 · 8 MW · 3 14 Sept 2021 · 632 MW · 12 15 Sept 2021 · 2,664 MW · 40 16 Sept 2021 · 4,868 MW · 107 17 Sept 2021 · 729 MW · 131 18 Sept 2021 · 740 MW · 28 19 Sept 2021 · 1,373 MW · 51 20 Sept 2021 · 5,111 MW · 83 21 Sept 2021 · 248 MW · 56 22 Sept 2021 · 419 MW · 31 23 Sept 2021 · 29 MW · 12 24 Sept 2021 · 5 MW · 1 25 Sept 2021 · 8 MW · 2 26 Sept 2021 · 78 MW · 12 27 Sept 2021 · 22 MW · 12 28 Sept 2021 · 542 MW · 39 29 Sept 2021 · 816 MW · 38 30 Sept 2021 · 153 MW · 25 1 Oct 2021 · 50 MW · 8 2 Oct 2021 · 141 MW · 10 3 Oct 2021 · 248 MW · 13 4 Oct 2021 · 580 MW · 11 5 Oct 2021 · 2,014 MW · 18 6 Oct 2021 · 1,799 MW · 42 7 Oct 2021 · 132 MW · 29 8 Oct 2021 · 2,837 MW · 62 9 Oct 2021 · 1,325 MW · 51 10 Oct 2021 · 1,020 MW · 32
11 Sept 20 Sept 29 Sept 5 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

39°high
48km/h · peak gust
11%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 19 Oct.

This area had burned before

14% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,120 ha in 2016, 1,311 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,399 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 11% of the area of London (173 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. Mansidão 13,919 inhabitants
    12,138 ha reached on 15 Sept
    3.8 %
  2. Buritirama 19,589 inhabitants where it started
    5,560 ha reached on 11 Sept
    1.4 %

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 area1.4 ha
Residents≈ 250

Inside the perimeter there were about 1.4 hectares of built-up land and about 250 residents (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)

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

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
11 Sept 36.9 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
12 Sept 36.2 °C 17 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
13 Sept 35.6 °C 19 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
14 Sept 36.5 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
15 Sept 36.9 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
16 Sept 36.5 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
17 Sept 34.3 °C 21 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
18 Sept 34.6 °C 21 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
19 Sept 36.4 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
20 Sept 37.1 °C 11 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
21 Sept 37.2 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
22 Sept 39.2 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
23 Sept 34.0 °C 31 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
24 Sept 34.3 °C 32 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
25 Sept 33.4 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
26 Sept 34.6 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
27 Sept 35.3 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
28 Sept 35.7 °C 20 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
29 Sept 36.0 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
30 Sept 35.8 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
1 Oct 36.0 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
2 Oct 36.7 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
3 Oct 37.0 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Oct 37.4 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
5 Oct 37.6 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
6 Oct 37.4 °C 19 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
7 Oct 37.5 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
8 Oct 38.7 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
9 Oct 36.9 °C 22 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
10 Oct 36.1 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
11 Oct 32.5 °C 31 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
12 Oct after 35.6 °C 28 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
13 Oct after 33.9 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.2 mm High 35
14 Oct after 35.6 °C 30 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
15 Oct after 36.4 °C 26 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
16 Oct after 36.6 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
17 Oct after 37.0 °C 21 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
18 Oct after 35.9 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
19 Oct after 33.1 °C 36 % 24 km/h 1.3 mm High 23

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 49.3, a minimum humidity of 20% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 15.

FWI at the start 49.3
Minimum humidity 20 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Mansidão fire, October 2020
7,434 ha 8 days FWI 48.4 Min. humidity 19 % 7 km away, in 2020

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 10.2 mm on 11 Oct.

What happened to them

11 days
median duration
5,003 ha
median area
20 %
went past 10,000 ha
4.6 mm
rain at the end (median; 6 of 15 had it)

It was 3.5 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 31 days, against 11 days.

Only 1 of its 15 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 15, 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 4.6 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
19 Oct8 days after it ended
48km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 11 Oct, and on 19 Oct 1.3 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 6 of 15, with a median of 4.6 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 · 4 Sept 2021
After · 18 Oct 2021

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 · 963Every 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 Buritirama fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 September 2021 and 11 October 2021: 31 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 17,329 hectares (173.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mansidão (12,138 ha, 3.8 %); Buritirama (5,560 ha, 1.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.2 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 55, 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: 15. Their median duration was 11 days and their median area 5,003 ha; 20 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 1 of its 15 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 15, 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 4.6 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 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

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; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 963 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.