Cuiabá fire, 23 August 2024 Cuiabá, Campo Verde, Santo Antônio do Leverger
The fire started on 23 August 2024 in Cuiabá, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 27 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 108,162 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 municipalities.
This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.
It is the 16th largest in Mato Grosso since 2016 (of 1996 with a page). Number 17 in Brazil in 2024, of 1301.
- Burnt area
- 108,162ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 27days
- 23 Aug 2024 – 18 Sept 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 4
- municipalities
- Started on
- 23 Aug
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 5,962
- in a single hotspot: 298 MW
- Danger at start
- 47
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 67.9GW
- 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: 4.0 mm on 26 Sept.
This area had burned before
56% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,535 ha in 2016, 22,011 ha in 2017, 1,659 ha in 2018, 13,771 ha in 2019, 46,427 ha in 2020, 4,484 ha in 2021, 1,126 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 60,588 ha that had burned before.
- 21,459 ha Santo Antônio do Leverger fire, August 2020 24,779 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 8,553 ha Cuiabá fire, September 2020 9,803 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,128 ha Cuiabá fire, August 2020 5,318 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,950 ha Campo Verde fire, September 2017 4,990 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,254 ha Santo Antônio do Leverger fire, September 2019 6,150 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,209 ha Santo Antônio do Leverger fire, September 2017 4,977 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,499 ha Cuiabá fire, August 2021 7,992 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,198 ha Cuiabá fire, August 2019 8,530 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Cuiabá where it started41,317 ha reached on 22 Aug13 %
-
Campo Verde 44,585 inhabitants31,913 ha reached on 21 Aug5.9 %
-
Santo Antônio do Leverger 650,877 inhabitants19,322 ha reached on 21 Aug2.0 %
-
Chapada dos Guimarães 18,990 inhabitants16,276 ha reached on 22 Aug2.5 %
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 Aug | 35.7 °C | 19 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 18 Aug | 35.9 °C | 15 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 19 Aug | 35.4 °C | 16 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 20 Aug | 35.2 °C | 16 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 21 Aug | 34.6 °C | 15 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 22 Aug | 34.7 °C | 18 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 23 Aug | 36.0 °C | 16 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 24 Aug | 28.6 °C | 42 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 25 Aug | 21.2 °C | 49 % | 54 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 33 |
| 26 Aug | 24.8 °C | 27 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 27 Aug | 32.7 °C | 20 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 28 Aug | 35.4 °C | 16 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 29 Aug | 35.5 °C | 17 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 30 Aug | 34.1 °C | 21 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 31 Aug | 35.0 °C | 20 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 1 Sept | 33.8 °C | 24 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 2 Sept | 35.2 °C | 15 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 3 Sept | 35.8 °C | 14 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 4 Sept | 36.2 °C | 13 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 5 Sept | 31.4 °C | 21 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 6 Sept | 35.4 °C | 15 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 7 Sept | 36.8 °C | 13 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 8 Sept | 37.0 °C | 11 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 9 Sept | 36.1 °C | 11 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 10 Sept | 35.9 °C | 15 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 11 Sept | 35.5 °C | 16 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 12 Sept | 36.5 °C | 16 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 13 Sept | 36.9 °C | 17 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 14 Sept | 36.1 °C | 19 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 15 Sept | 32.3 °C | 35 % | 37 km/h | 1.0 mm | High 28 |
| 16 Sept | 31.2 °C | 41 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 17 Sept | 35.8 °C | 24 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 18 Sept | 37.6 °C | 17 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 19 Sept after | 35.8 °C | 26 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 20 Sept after | 35.1 °C | 31 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 21 Sept after | 37.7 °C | 14 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 22 Sept after | 37.0 °C | 18 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 23 Sept after | 36.8 °C | 20 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 24 Sept after | 37.1 °C | 20 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 25 Sept after | 37.5 °C | 22 % | 48 km/h | 0.5 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 26 Sept after | 36.3 °C | 26 % | 49 km/h | 4.0 mm | High 27 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 19 September 2024 the air beside the fire reached 140 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 92: 6.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 5,962Every 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 Cuiabá fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 August 2024 and 18 September 2024: 27 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 108,162 hectares (1,081.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 4 municipalities: Cuiabá (41,317 ha, 13 %); Campo Verde (31,913 ha, 5.9 %); Santo Antônio do Leverger (19,322 ha, 2.0 %); Chapada dos Guimarães (16,276 ha, 2.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 65, 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.