Skip to content
worldfires
BR · Brazil · –

Colniza fire, 13 August 2024 Machadinho D'Oeste, Colniza

Out · last detection 30 Aug 2024, 05:30 UTC

The fire started on 13 August 2024 in Colniza, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,466 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 1571th largest in Mato Grosso since 2016 (of 1872 with a page). Number 1080 in Brazil in 2024, of 1301.

Burnt area
3,466ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
18days
13 Aug 2024 – 30 Aug 2024
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
13 Aug
2024
Heat detections
312
in a single hotspot: 211 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Average daily power
216MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 Aug30 Aug
30 Aug 2024

How it evolved, day by day

13 Aug 2024 · 77 MW · 6 14 Aug 2024 · 18 MW · 4 17 Aug 2024 · 5 MW · 1 18 Aug 2024 · 153 MW · 16 19 Aug 2024 · 11 MW · 8 20 Aug 2024 · 123 MW · 12 21 Aug 2024 · 437 MW · 38 22 Aug 2024 · 758 MW · 78 23 Aug 2024 · 265 MW · 47 24 Aug 2024 · 13 MW · 7 25 Aug 2024 · 185 MW · 36 26 Aug 2024 · 911 MW · 41 27 Aug 2024 · 72 MW · 16 30 Aug 2024 · 2 MW · 2
13 Aug 18 Aug 21 Aug 26 Aug

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

37°high
36km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

73% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 804 ha in 2016, 438 ha in 2017, 1,103 ha in 2019, 1,374 ha in 2020, 2,851 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,529 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 2.2% of the area of London (35 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. Machadinho D'Oeste 30,707 inhabitants
    2,162 ha reached on 18 Aug
    0.2 %
  2. Colniza where it started
    1,323 ha reached on 13 Aug
    0.0 %

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 area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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)

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

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
13 Aug 33.0 °C 32 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
14 Aug 36.4 °C 22 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
15 Aug 35.2 °C 34 % 20 km/h 0.2 mm High 34
16 Aug 33.6 °C 45 % 22 km/h 0.7 mm High 23
17 Aug 35.0 °C 37 % 25 km/h 0.1 mm High 25
18 Aug 34.6 °C 41 % 18 km/h 0.1 mm High 27
19 Aug 35.4 °C 41 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
20 Aug 34.7 °C 39 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
21 Aug 35.6 °C 34 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
22 Aug 35.9 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
23 Aug 37.2 °C 30 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
24 Aug 34.8 °C 38 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
25 Aug 33.2 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.4 mm High 36
26 Aug 30.6 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Aug 32.7 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
28 Aug 34.3 °C 33 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
29 Aug 35.3 °C 30 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
30 Aug 35.4 °C 33 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 Aug after 35.6 °C 33 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
1 Sept after 36.6 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
2 Sept after 36.9 °C 29 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
3 Sept after 35.3 °C 39 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
4 Sept after 35.6 °C 37 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
5 Sept after 37.7 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
6 Sept after 34.9 °C 36 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
7 Sept after 33.5 °C 41 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
8 Sept after 35.6 °C 35 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
9 Sept after 36.1 °C 33 % 14 km/h 0.0 mm High 31

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 32.2, a minimum humidity of 32% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 18.

FWI at the start 32.2
Minimum humidity 32 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Humaitá fire, September 2024
4,924 ha 5 days FWI 32.7 Min. humidity 33 % 60 km away, in 2024

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 3.9 mm on 19 Sept.

What happened to them

17 days
median duration
4,135 ha
median area
0 %
went past 10,000 ha
3.5 mm
rain at the end (median; 17 of 18 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (3,466 ha against a median of 4,135 ha) and lasted 18 days, against 17 days.

In 1 of 18, 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 3.5 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

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
36km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 30 Aug, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 17 of 18, with a median of 3.5 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 · 6 Aug 2024
After · 6 Sept 2024

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 30 August 2024 the air beside the fire reached 240 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 169: 11 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak240 µg/m³
Days over the guideline16 days
PM10344 µg/m³
Optical depth4.20
15 Aug19 Aug23 Aug27 Aug
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 · 312Every 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 Colniza fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 13 August 2024 to 30 August 2024 (18 days). The perimeter dates it from 17 August 2024 to 27 August 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,466 hectares (34.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Machadinho D'Oeste (2,162 ha, 0.2 %); Colniza (1,323 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.2 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class 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.
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: 18. Their median duration was 17 days and their median area 4,135 ha; 0 % went past 10,000 ha. In 1 of 18, 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 3.5 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 · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 27 August 2024 → 30 August 2024.
  2. Start date: 17 August 2024 → 13 August 2024.

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 17 August 2024 to 27 August 2024. 312 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.