Comodoro fire, October 2020 Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade, Comodoro, Nova Lacerda
The fire started on 9 October 2020 in Comodoro, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,934 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 1443th largest in Mato Grosso since 2016 (of 1996 with a page). Number 660 in Brazil in 2020, of 957.
- Burnt area
- 3,934ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 10days
- 9 Oct 2020 – 18 Oct 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 9 Oct
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 206
- in a single hotspot: 131 MW
- Danger at start
- 32
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.4GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.6 mm on 25 Oct.
This area had burned before
14% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 546 ha in 2017.
What happened to each town
-
Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade 52,018 inhabitants2,582 ha reached on 8 Oct0.2 %
-
1,200 ha reached on 9 Oct0.1 %
-
Nova Lacerda 6,670 inhabitants167 ha reached on 17 Oct0.0 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Oct | 36.1 °C | 36 % | 36 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 32 |
| 3 Oct | 36.9 °C | 33 % | 26 km/h | 2.3 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 4 Oct | 38.4 °C | 31 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 5 Oct | 37.3 °C | 36 % | 21 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 29 |
| 6 Oct | 34.5 °C | 42 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 7 Oct | 37.0 °C | 36 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 8 Oct | 38.9 °C | 30 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 9 Oct | 39.3 °C | 28 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 10 Oct | 38.6 °C | 29 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 11 Oct | 31.1 °C | 54 % | 34 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 25 |
| 12 Oct | 32.7 °C | 46 % | 24 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 23 |
| 13 Oct | 36.1 °C | 38 % | 32 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 27 |
| 14 Oct | 35.7 °C | 41 % | 30 km/h | 1.3 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 15 Oct | 32.5 °C | 51 % | 28 km/h | 2.3 mm | Low 9 |
| 16 Oct | 33.9 °C | 40 % | 27 km/h | 0.7 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 17 Oct | 36.4 °C | 38 % | 31 km/h | 4.2 mm | Low 11 |
| 18 Oct | 35.4 °C | 40 % | 23 km/h | 3.5 mm | Low 9 |
| 19 Oct after | 31.0 °C | 55 % | 37 km/h | 1.0 mm | Moderate 11 |
| 20 Oct after | 34.9 °C | 38 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 21 Oct after | 35.2 °C | 38 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 22 Oct after | 34.8 °C | 44 % | 31 km/h | 0.7 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 23 Oct after | 32.0 °C | 53 % | 27 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 24 Oct after | 35.4 °C | 42 % | 25 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 22 |
| 25 Oct after | 32.6 °C | 52 % | 40 km/h | 1.6 mm | Moderate 13 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · 206Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Comodoro fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 October 2020 and 18 October 2020: 10 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 3,934 hectares (39.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade (2,582 ha, 0.2 %); Comodoro (1,200 ha, 0.1 %); Nova Lacerda (167 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.3 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, 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.
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
Satellite cross-check
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
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.