Cotegipe fire, August 2019 Cotegipe, Riachão das Neves
The fire started on 25 August 2019 in Cotegipe, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,197 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 304th largest in Bahia since 2016 (of 466 with a page). Number 597 in Brazil in 2019, of 974.
- Burnt area
- 4,197ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 10days
- 25 Aug 2019 – 3 Sept 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 25 Aug
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 254
- in a single hotspot: 175 MW
- Danger at start
- 44
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.6GW
- 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.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
3,550 ha reached on 25 Aug0.8 %
-
Riachão das Neves 21,642 inhabitants672 ha reached on 27 Aug0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Aug | 33.8 °C | 23 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 26 Aug | 33.4 °C | 25 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 27 Aug | 33.0 °C | 27 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 28 Aug | 32.9 °C | 30 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 29 Aug | 34.3 °C | 27 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 30 Aug | 33.2 °C | 28 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 31 Aug | 34.2 °C | 28 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 1 Sept | 35.1 °C | 21 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 2 Sept | 36.4 °C | 20 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 3 Sept | 36.9 °C | 18 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 4 Sept after | 35.9 °C | 29 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 5 Sept after | 36.8 °C | 20 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 6 Sept after | 34.9 °C | 26 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 7 Sept after | 34.6 °C | 25 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 8 Sept after | 34.6 °C | 27 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 9 Sept after | 34.6 °C | 30 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 10 Sept after | 36.0 °C | 28 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 11 Sept after | 36.0 °C | 21 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 12 Sept after | 36.0 °C | 23 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 13 Sept after | 38.1 °C | 16 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 14 Sept after | 37.5 °C | 16 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 15 Sept after | 34.9 °C | 22 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 16 Sept after | 34.9 °C | 29 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 17 Sept after | 35.2 °C | 23 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
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 · 254Every 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 Cotegipe fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 August 2019 and 3 September 2019: 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 4,197 hectares (42.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Cotegipe (3,550 ha, 0.8 %); Riachão das Neves (672 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.9 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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
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.