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Crixás fire, 17 September 2021 Crixás, Araguapaz

Out · last detection 22 Sept 2021, 16:43 UTC

The fire started on 17 September 2021 in Crixás, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,971 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 271th largest in Goiás since 2016 (of 548 with a page). Number 405 in Brazil in 2021, of 814.

Burnt area
4,971ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
6days
17 Sept 2021 – 22 Sept 2021
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
17 Sept
2021
Heat detections
166
in a single hotspot: 82 MW
Danger at start
51
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
2.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

22 Sept 2021
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Sept22 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

171819202122

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

The weather it burned in

40°high
37km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.5 mm on 25 Sept.

This area had burned before

81% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,383 ha in 2016, 3,477 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,025 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Crixás 17,065 inhabitants where it started
    4,920 ha reached on 17 Sept
    1.0 %
  2. Araguapaz 7,153 inhabitants
    86 ha reached on 18 Sept
    0.0 %

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)
17 Sept 38.0 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
18 Sept 37.7 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
19 Sept 38.8 °C 15 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
20 Sept 39.8 °C 15 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
21 Sept 39.8 °C 17 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
22 Sept 38.6 °C 21 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
23 Sept after 38.6 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
24 Sept after 34.0 °C 44 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
25 Sept after 34.1 °C 40 % 19 km/h 2.5 mm Moderate 14

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 10 Sept 2021
After · 29 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 · 166Every 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 Crixás fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 17 September 2021 and 22 September 2021: 6 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 4,971 hectares (49.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Crixás (4,920 ha, 1.0 %); Araguapaz (86 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.8 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, 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
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.

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.