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BR · Brazil · –

Chapada da Natividade fire, 26 September 2025 Santa Rosa do Tocantins, Pindorama do Tocantins, Chapada da Natividade

Out · last detection 10 Oct 2025, 16:15 UTC

The fire started on 26 September 2025 in Chapada da Natividade, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,369 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 450th largest in Tocantins since 2016 (of 1036 with a page). Number 252 in Brazil in 2025, of 526.

Burnt area
5,369ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
15days
26 Sept 2025 – 10 Oct 2025
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
26 Sept
2025
Heat detections
172
in a single hotspot: 30 MW
Danger at start
39
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
60MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 26 Sept10 Oct
10 Oct 2025

How it evolved, day by day

26 Sept 2025 · 5 MW · 1 27 Sept 2025 · 8 MW · 5 29 Sept 2025 · 13 MW · 4 30 Sept 2025 · 13 MW · 3 1 Oct 2025 · 41 MW · 7 2 Oct 2025 · 261 MW · 45 3 Oct 2025 · 136 MW · 29 4 Oct 2025 · 64 MW · 18 5 Oct 2025 · 86 MW · 21 6 Oct 2025 · 2 MW · 2 7 Oct 2025 · 116 MW · 27 8 Oct 2025 · 27 MW · 9 10 Oct 2025 · 9 MW · 1
26 Sept 2 Oct 6 Oct 10 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
49km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.7 mm on 12 Oct.

This area had burned before

8% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 434 ha in 2016.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 3.4% of the area of London (54 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. Santa Rosa do Tocantins 4,653 inhabitants
    4,543 ha reached on 27 Sept
    2.5 %
  2. Pindorama do Tocantins 4,478 inhabitants
    748 ha reached on 29 Sept
    0.5 %
  3. Chapada da Natividade 3,117 inhabitants where it started
    109 ha reached on 26 Sept
    0.1 %

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 2025
Built-up area0.33 ha
Residents≈ 30

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.33 hectares of built-up land and about 30 residents (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)
26 Sept 36.2 °C 24 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Sept 35.1 °C 25 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
28 Sept 36.2 °C 17 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
29 Sept 37.2 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
30 Sept 37.4 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Oct 37.2 °C 17 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
2 Oct 37.8 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
3 Oct 37.0 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
4 Oct 36.4 °C 20 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
5 Oct 36.5 °C 20 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
6 Oct 37.2 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
7 Oct 38.1 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
8 Oct 36.9 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
9 Oct 32.7 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.9 mm High 29
10 Oct 35.8 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Oct after 36.5 °C 24 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
12 Oct after 28.6 °C 54 % 25 km/h 3.7 mm Low 6

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 39.4, a minimum humidity of 24% and 2 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 50.

FWI at the start 39.4
Minimum humidity 24 %
Days without rain 2
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Novo Acordo fire, October 2020
4,101 ha 6 days FWI 37.8 Min. humidity 24 % 130 km away, in 2020

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 3.2 mm on 23 Oct.

What happened to them

9 days
median duration
4,194 ha
median area
14 %
went past 10,000 ha
3.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 32 of 50 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (5,369 ha against a median of 4,194 ha) and lasted 15 days, against 9 days.

In 18 of 50, 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 3.2 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

3.7 mmfirst rain
12 Oct2 days after it ended
49km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 10 Oct, and on 12 Oct 3.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 32 of 50, with a median of 3.2 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 · 19 Sept 2025
After · 17 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 7 October 2025 the air beside the fire reached 85 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 44: 2.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak85 µg/m³
Days over the guideline7 days
PM1086 µg/m³
Optical depth0.55
24 Sept28 Sept2 Oct6 Oct10 Oct
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 · 172Every 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 Chapada da Natividade fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 26 September 2025 to 10 October 2025 (15 days). The perimeter dates it from 26 September 2025 to 8 October 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,369 hectares (53.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Santa Rosa do Tocantins (4,543 ha, 2.5 %); Pindorama do Tocantins (748 ha, 0.5 %); Chapada da Natividade (109 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.1 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 49 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: 50. Their median duration was 9 days and their median area 4,194 ha; 14 % went past 10,000 ha. In 18 of 50, 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 3.2 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 · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 8 October 2025 → 10 October 2025.

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 26 September 2025 to 8 October 2025. 172 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 2025, 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.