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Conceição do Tocantins fire, August 2021 Conceição do Tocantins

Out · last detection 25 Aug 2021, 04:34 UTC

The fire started on 12 August 2021 in Conceição do Tocantins, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,495 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 338th largest in Tocantins since 2016 (of 1036 with a page). Number 273 in Brazil in 2021, of 814.

Burnt area
6,495ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
12 Aug 2021 – 27 Aug 2021
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
12 Aug
2021
Heat detections
215
in a single hotspot: 177 MW
Danger at start
43
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
215MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 12 Aug27 Aug
25 Aug 2021

How it evolved, day by day

12 Aug 2021 · 5 MW · 4 13 Aug 2021 · 65 MW · 7 14 Aug 2021 · 36 MW · 8 15 Aug 2021 · 15 MW · 8 16 Aug 2021 · 281 MW · 8 17 Aug 2021 · 1,520 MW · 68 18 Aug 2021 · 392 MW · 43 19 Aug 2021 · 183 MW · 51 20 Aug 2021 · 48 MW · 8 22 Aug 2021 · 6 MW · 1 24 Aug 2021 · 29 MW · 8 25 Aug 2021 · 1 MW · 1
12 Aug 17 Aug 22 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

36°high
44km/h · peak gust
17%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

58% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,804 ha in 2017, 2,127 ha in 2019.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 4.1% of the area of London (65 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. Conceição do Tocantins 3,887 inhabitants where it started
    6,534 ha reached on 12 Aug
    2.6 %

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 area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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)
12 Aug 34.9 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
13 Aug 33.6 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
14 Aug 33.2 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
15 Aug 33.7 °C 21 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
16 Aug 33.8 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
17 Aug 34.5 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
18 Aug 33.4 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
19 Aug 31.7 °C 28 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
20 Aug 32.8 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
21 Aug 33.5 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
22 Aug 34.4 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
23 Aug 34.6 °C 24 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
24 Aug 35.5 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
25 Aug 35.2 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
26 Aug 36.2 °C 22 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
27 Aug 36.0 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
28 Aug after 34.6 °C 25 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
29 Aug after 35.1 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
30 Aug after 35.5 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
31 Aug after 33.0 °C 33 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Sept after 34.6 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
2 Sept after 33.8 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
3 Sept after 34.2 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
4 Sept after 36.1 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
5 Sept after 36.1 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
6 Sept after 37.0 °C 23 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 43.1, a minimum humidity of 17% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 62.

FWI at the start 43.1
Minimum humidity 17 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Arraias fire, October 2017
3,474 ha 6 days FWI 42.7 Min. humidity 17 % 95 km away, in 2017

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.1 mm on 28 Oct.

What happened to them

9 days
median duration
5,288 ha
median area
18 %
went past 10,000 ha
3.0 mm
rain at the end (median; 27 of 62 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (6,495 ha against a median of 5,288 ha) and lasted 16 days, against 9 days.

In 35 of 62, 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 3.0 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
44km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 27 Aug, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 27 of 62, with a median of 3.0 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 · 5 Aug 2021
After · 3 Sept 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 · 215Every 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 Conceição do Tocantins fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 12 August 2021 to 27 August 2021 (16 days). The perimeter dates it from 12 August 2021 to 22 August 2021.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 6,495 hectares (65.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Conceição do Tocantins (6,534 ha, 2.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.2 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, class Very 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: 62. Their median duration was 9 days and their median area 5,288 ha; 18 % went past 10,000 ha. In 35 of 62, 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 3.0 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: 22 August 2021 → 27 August 2021.

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 12 August 2021 to 22 August 2021. 215 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.