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Cumaru do Norte fire, 24 August 2019 Cumaru do Norte, São Félix do Xingu

Out · last detection 12 Sept 2019, 16:38 UTC

The fire started on 24 August 2019 in Cumaru do Norte, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 20 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,476 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 272th largest in Pará since 2016 (of 957 with a page). Number 260 in Brazil in 2019, of 973.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Cumaru do Norte · 2017São Félix do Xingu · 2016Cumaru do Norte · 2017São Félix do Xingu · 2017

Burnt area
7,476ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
20days
24 Aug 2019 – 12 Sept 2019
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
24 Aug
2019
Heat detections
280
in a single hotspot: 75 MW
Danger at start
45
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
170MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 24 Aug12 Sept
12 Sept 2019

How it evolved, day by day

24 Aug 2019 · 11 MW · 6 25 Aug 2019 · 222 MW · 23 26 Aug 2019 · 4 MW · 1 27 Aug 2019 · 81 MW · 5 28 Aug 2019 · 619 MW · 50 29 Aug 2019 · 476 MW · 41 30 Aug 2019 · 449 MW · 17 31 Aug 2019 · 67 MW · 16 1 Sept 2019 · 4 MW · 1 2 Sept 2019 · 87 MW · 11 3 Sept 2019 · 6 MW · 2 4 Sept 2019 · 423 MW · 45 5 Sept 2019 · 273 MW · 22 7 Sept 2019 · 99 MW · 18 8 Sept 2019 · 230 MW · 16 9 Sept 2019 · 2 MW · 1 10 Sept 2019 · 8 MW · 4 12 Sept 2019 · 5 MW · 1
24 Aug 28 Aug 1 Sept 5 Sept 10 Sept

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
49km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone 45 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 21 Sept.

This area had burned before

88% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 7,249 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,595 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 4.7% of the area of London (75 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. Cumaru do Norte 14,036 inhabitants where it started
    6,906 ha reached on 24 Aug
    0.4 %
  2. São Félix do Xingu 65,418 inhabitants
    626 ha reached on 25 Aug
    0.0 %

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)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
24 Aug 32.8 °C 34 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
25 Aug 33.2 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
26 Aug 34.9 °C 27 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Aug 34.9 °C 27 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
28 Aug 35.1 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
29 Aug 35.7 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
30 Aug 35.9 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
31 Aug 35.4 °C 26 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
1 Sept 36.2 °C 25 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
2 Sept 36.0 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
3 Sept 36.8 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
4 Sept 36.3 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
5 Sept 36.0 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
6 Sept 34.1 °C 39 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
7 Sept 33.9 °C 30 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Sept 35.2 °C 22 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
9 Sept 36.2 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
10 Sept 35.2 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
11 Sept 37.0 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
12 Sept 36.0 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
13 Sept after 37.0 °C 24 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
14 Sept after 35.4 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
15 Sept after 35.0 °C 35 % 24 km/h 0.4 mm High 34
16 Sept after 36.1 °C 32 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
17 Sept after 36.1 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
18 Sept after 35.3 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
19 Sept after 35.8 °C 32 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
20 Sept after 35.8 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 Sept after 34.8 °C 41 % 24 km/h 1.3 mm High 34

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 45.3, a minimum humidity of 34% and 45 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 30.

FWI at the start 45.3
Minimum humidity 34 %
Days without rain 45
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Cumaru do Norte fire, August 2017
9,449 ha 18 days FWI 45.1 Min. humidity 32 % 166 km away, in 2017

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

16 days
median duration
4,609 ha
median area
17 %
went past 10,000 ha
3.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 16 of 30 had it)

It was 1.6 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 20 days, against 16 days.

Only 6 of its 30 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 14 of 30, 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 3.2 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

1.3 mmfirst rain
21 Sept9 days after it ended
49km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 12 Sept, and on 21 Sept 1.3 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 16 of 30, with a median of 3.2 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 · 17 Aug 2019
After · 19 Sept 2019

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 · 280Every 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 Cumaru do Norte fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 24 August 2019 to 12 September 2019 (20 days). The perimeter dates it from 25 August 2019 to 8 September 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 7,476 hectares (74.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Cumaru do Norte (6,906 ha, 0.4 %); São Félix do Xingu (626 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.0 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 64, 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.
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: 30. Their median duration was 16 days and their median area 4,609 ha; 17 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 6 of its 30 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 14 of 30, 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 3.2 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 · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 8 September 2019 → 12 September 2019.
  2. Start date: 25 August 2019 → 24 August 2019.

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 25 August 2019 to 8 September 2019. 280 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.