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Darcinópolis fire, September 2019 Darcinópolis, Angico

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

The fire started on 8 September 2019 in Darcinópolis, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,538 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 977th largest in Tocantins since 2016 (of 1242 with a page). Number 762 in Brazil in 2019, of 974.

The power measured by the satellite is low (28.7 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
3,538ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
5days
8 Sept 2019 – 12 Sept 2019
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
8 Sept
2019
Heat detections
100
in a single hotspot: 29 MW
Danger at start
39
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
769MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

12 Sept 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Sept12 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

89101112

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
39km/h · peak gust
28%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

0% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 17 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

  1. Darcinópolis 5,827 inhabitants where it started
    3,548 ha reached on 8 Sept
    2.2 %
  2. Angico 2,876 inhabitants
    12 ha
    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)
8 Sept 35.3 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
9 Sept 35.9 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
10 Sept 35.5 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
11 Sept 35.5 °C 33 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Sept 35.0 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
13 Sept after 34.8 °C 36 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
14 Sept after 33.5 °C 51 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
15 Sept after 33.7 °C 44 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
16 Sept after 34.8 °C 39 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
17 Sept after 35.1 °C 39 % 34 km/h 0.3 mm High 28
18 Sept after 34.8 °C 42 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
19 Sept after 35.8 °C 38 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
20 Sept after 36.0 °C 38 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
21 Sept after 35.1 °C 39 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
22 Sept after 33.6 °C 46 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 34

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 1 Sept 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 · 100Every 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 8 September 2019 and 12 September 2019: 5 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 3,538 hectares (35.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Darcinópolis (3,548 ha, 2.2 %); Angico (12 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.9 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, 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.