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Cáceres fire, 9 August 2020 Cáceres

Out · last detection 28 Sept 2020, 17:13 UTC

The fire started on 9 August 2020 in Cáceres, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 50 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 118,854 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.

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

It is the 12th largest in Mato Grosso since 2016 (of 1996 with a page). Number 7 in Brazil in 2020, of 957.

Compare with…
Burnt area
118,854ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
50days
9 Aug 2020 – 27 Sept 2020
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
9 Aug
2020
Heat detections
6,929
in a single hotspot: 409 MW
Danger at start
40
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
2.6GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 9 Aug27 Sept
28 Sept 2020

How it evolved, day by day

9 Aug 2020 · 44 MW · 9 10 Aug 2020 · 367 MW · 30 11 Aug 2020 · 1,099 MW · 91 12 Aug 2020 · 69 MW · 25 13 Aug 2020 · 90 MW · 20 14 Aug 2020 · 2,411 MW · 123 15 Aug 2020 · 14,998 MW · 350 16 Aug 2020 · 126 MW · 42 17 Aug 2020 · 1,062 MW · 65 18 Aug 2020 · 1,041 MW · 58 19 Aug 2020 · 1,690 MW · 162 20 Aug 2020 · 352 MW · 46 22 Aug 2020 · 50 MW · 5 23 Aug 2020 · 370 MW · 41 24 Aug 2020 · 3,778 MW · 149 25 Aug 2020 · 4,520 MW · 191 26 Aug 2020 · 2,526 MW · 233 27 Aug 2020 · 1,716 MW · 148 28 Aug 2020 · 948 MW · 98 29 Aug 2020 · 1,579 MW · 138 30 Aug 2020 · 3,644 MW · 282 31 Aug 2020 · 2,936 MW · 283 1 Sept 2020 · 3,993 MW · 314 2 Sept 2020 · 1,550 MW · 180 3 Sept 2020 · 797 MW · 113 4 Sept 2020 · 1,996 MW · 179 5 Sept 2020 · 12,362 MW · 450 6 Sept 2020 · 12,972 MW · 543 7 Sept 2020 · 4,876 MW · 304 8 Sept 2020 · 2,763 MW · 247 9 Sept 2020 · 2,641 MW · 233 10 Sept 2020 · 2,359 MW · 200 11 Sept 2020 · 26,257 MW · 571 12 Sept 2020 · 4,919 MW · 430 13 Sept 2020 · 1,729 MW · 79 14 Sept 2020 · 1,755 MW · 100 15 Sept 2020 · 674 MW · 78 16 Sept 2020 · 377 MW · 42 17 Sept 2020 · 1,030 MW · 34 18 Sept 2020 · 601 MW · 83 19 Sept 2020 · 56 MW · 15 20 Sept 2020 · 9 MW · 4 21 Sept 2020 · 31 MW · 6 22 Sept 2020 · 110 MW · 17 23 Sept 2020 · 12 MW · 2 24 Sept 2020 · 72 MW · 18 25 Sept 2020 · 129 MW · 17 26 Sept 2020 · 85 MW · 13 27 Sept 2020 · 709 MW · 55 28 Sept 2020 · 72 MW · 13
9 Aug 17 Aug 26 Aug 3 Sept 11 Sept 19 Sept 27 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
50km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months 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.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 75% of the area of London (1,189 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. Cáceres 89,681 inhabitants where it started
    119,610 ha reached on 9 Aug
    4.8 %

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 area0.95 ha
Residents≈ 30

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.95 hectares of built-up land and about 30 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)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
9 Aug 35.1 °C 20 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
10 Aug 35.8 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
11 Aug 36.4 °C 24 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
12 Aug 34.6 °C 26 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
13 Aug 35.4 °C 28 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
14 Aug 38.2 °C 21 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
15 Aug 38.4 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
16 Aug 34.8 °C 33 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Aug 35.8 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
18 Aug 38.3 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
19 Aug 38.9 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
20 Aug 25.5 °C 72 % 50 km/h 2.5 mm Low 10
21 Aug 14.8 °C 57 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
22 Aug 21.7 °C 40 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
23 Aug 29.4 °C 38 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
24 Aug 36.0 °C 26 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
25 Aug 38.4 °C 21 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Aug 38.3 °C 27 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
27 Aug 38.6 °C 28 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Aug 40.1 °C 21 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Aug 40.2 °C 12 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
30 Aug 38.7 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
31 Aug 35.1 °C 32 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
1 Sept 33.1 °C 39 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
2 Sept 31.6 °C 35 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
3 Sept 33.2 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
4 Sept 37.8 °C 24 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Sept 39.0 °C 17 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
6 Sept 39.6 °C 9 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
7 Sept 36.4 °C 23 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
8 Sept 33.0 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
9 Sept 39.3 °C 20 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
10 Sept 39.4 °C 21 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
11 Sept 40.5 °C 16 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
12 Sept 40.0 °C 17 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
13 Sept 40.5 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
14 Sept 39.3 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
15 Sept 33.8 °C 36 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
16 Sept 39.0 °C 18 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
17 Sept 38.3 °C 23 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
18 Sept 37.2 °C 27 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
19 Sept 38.1 °C 24 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
20 Sept 31.7 °C 44 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
21 Sept 29.9 °C 37 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
22 Sept 30.4 °C 43 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
23 Sept 36.8 °C 32 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
24 Sept 39.9 °C 25 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
25 Sept 41.1 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
26 Sept 39.5 °C 27 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
27 Sept 39.4 °C 25 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
28 Sept after 37.0 °C 37 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
29 Sept after 40.0 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
30 Sept after 41.9 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Oct after 41.6 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
2 Oct after 39.6 °C 26 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
3 Oct after 41.2 °C 20 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
4 Oct after 39.7 °C 27 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
5 Oct after 41.0 °C 25 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
6 Oct after 41.2 °C 26 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
7 Oct after 40.6 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 2 Aug 2020
After · 4 Oct 2020

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 · 6,929Every 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

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Cáceres fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 9 August 2020 to 27 September 2020 (50 days). The perimeter dates it from 9 August 2020 to 20 September 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 118,854 hectares (1,188.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Cáceres (119,610 ha, 4.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 41.1 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, 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 · 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.

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 adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 9 August 2020 to 20 September 2020. 6,929 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.