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Darcinópolis fire, July 2017 Darcinópolis, Wanderlândia

Out · last detection 30 Jul 2017, 16:50 UTC

The fire started on 24 July 2017 in Darcinópolis, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,190 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 772th largest in Tocantins since 2016 (of 1242 with a page). Number 602 in Brazil in 2017, of 994.

Burnt area
4,190ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
6days
24 Jul 2017 – 29 Jul 2017
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
24 Jul
2017
Heat detections
117
in a single hotspot: 189 MW
Danger at start
41
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
2.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

30 Jul 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 24 Jul29 Jul

How it evolved, day by day

24252627282930

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

The weather it burned in

35°high
46km/h · peak gust
31%lowest humidity

It had gone 49 days 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

  1. Darcinópolis 5,827 inhabitants where it started
    4,068 ha reached on 24 Jul
    2.5 %
  2. Wanderlândia 10,522 inhabitants
    150 ha reached on 25 Jul
    0.1 %

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)
24 Jul 34.6 °C 33 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
25 Jul 34.2 °C 34 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
26 Jul 33.1 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
27 Jul 33.2 °C 32 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 Jul 33.6 °C 32 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Jul 34.1 °C 33 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
30 Jul after 33.2 °C 34 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
31 Jul after 33.8 °C 35 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
1 Aug after 34.9 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
2 Aug after 35.6 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
3 Aug after 36.2 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Aug after 35.3 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
5 Aug after 34.5 °C 40 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
6 Aug after 33.0 °C 49 % 30 km/h 0.2 mm High 29
7 Aug after 34.6 °C 38 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
8 Aug after 35.5 °C 35 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
9 Aug after 36.5 °C 31 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 17 Jul 2017
After · 5 Aug 2017

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 · 117Every 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 Darcinópolis fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 24 July 2017 and 29 July 2017: 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 4,190 hectares (41.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Darcinópolis (4,068 ha, 2.5 %); Wanderlândia (150 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.6 °C, humidity dropped to 31 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, 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.

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.