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Espigão d'Oeste fire, 30 July 2024 Espigão d'Oeste

Out · last detection 25 Sept 2024, 17:00 UTC

The fire started on 30 July 2024 in Espigão d'Oeste, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 57 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 26,149 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

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.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 8th largest in Rondônia since 2016 (of 288 with a page). Number 111 in Brazil in 2024, of 1301.

Burnt area
26,149ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
57days
30 Jul 2024 – 24 Sept 2024
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
30 Jul
2024
Heat detections
1,520
in a single hotspot: 36 MW
Danger at start
37
High · FWI index
Average daily power
112MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 30 Jul24 Sept
25 Sept 2024

How it evolved, day by day

30 Jul 2024 · 5 MW · 2 31 Jul 2024 · 10 MW · 2 2 Aug 2024 · 3 MW · 1 3 Aug 2024 · 6 MW · 4 4 Aug 2024 · 21 MW · 4 5 Aug 2024 · 64 MW · 8 6 Aug 2024 · 10 MW · 2 7 Aug 2024 · 11 MW · 2 8 Aug 2024 · 20 MW · 7 9 Aug 2024 · 7 MW · 7 10 Aug 2024 · 65 MW · 14 11 Aug 2024 · 24 MW · 5 12 Aug 2024 · 45 MW · 6 13 Aug 2024 · 41 MW · 12 14 Aug 2024 · 144 MW · 18 15 Aug 2024 · 72 MW · 21 16 Aug 2024 · 11 MW · 5 17 Aug 2024 · 15 MW · 2 18 Aug 2024 · 6 MW · 4 19 Aug 2024 · 75 MW · 14 20 Aug 2024 · 137 MW · 33 21 Aug 2024 · 247 MW · 59 22 Aug 2024 · 94 MW · 9 24 Aug 2024 · 34 MW · 15 25 Aug 2024 · 245 MW · 99 26 Aug 2024 · 539 MW · 141 27 Aug 2024 · 251 MW · 55 28 Aug 2024 · 91 MW · 17 29 Aug 2024 · 92 MW · 29 30 Aug 2024 · 296 MW · 97 31 Aug 2024 · 678 MW · 151 1 Sept 2024 · 355 MW · 66 2 Sept 2024 · 219 MW · 48 3 Sept 2024 · 74 MW · 22 4 Sept 2024 · 161 MW · 52 5 Sept 2024 · 264 MW · 102 6 Sept 2024 · 667 MW · 142 7 Sept 2024 · 59 MW · 16 8 Sept 2024 · 4 MW · 3 9 Sept 2024 · 34 MW · 18 10 Sept 2024 · 128 MW · 69 11 Sept 2024 · 153 MW · 45 12 Sept 2024 · 28 MW · 15 14 Sept 2024 · 5 MW · 2 16 Sept 2024 · 34 MW · 18 17 Sept 2024 · 17 MW · 5 20 Sept 2024 · 7 MW · 4 21 Sept 2024 · 80 MW · 31 22 Sept 2024 · 57 MW · 15 24 Sept 2024 · 3 MW · 1 25 Sept 2024 · 2 MW · 1
30 Jul 11 Aug 22 Aug 31 Aug 16 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
41km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.6 mm on 27 Sept.

This area had burned before

1% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 381 ha in 2020.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 17% of the area of London (261 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. Espigão d'Oeste 29,414 inhabitants where it started
    26,304 ha reached on 30 Jul
    5.8 %

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.

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)

Started with 60 days without rain: 55 % of the area in Brazil

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
30 Jul 34.9 °C 28 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
31 Jul 35.4 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Aug 35.4 °C 24 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
2 Aug 35.5 °C 25 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
3 Aug 34.4 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
4 Aug 35.1 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
5 Aug 35.4 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
6 Aug 34.5 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
7 Aug 34.2 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
8 Aug 35.8 °C 27 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
9 Aug 30.2 °C 41 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
10 Aug 29.0 °C 34 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Aug 32.9 °C 26 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
12 Aug 33.6 °C 23 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
13 Aug 34.5 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Aug 36.2 °C 20 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
15 Aug 36.5 °C 22 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
16 Aug 34.7 °C 34 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
17 Aug 35.7 °C 32 % 28 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 42
18 Aug 35.5 °C 31 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
19 Aug 34.9 °C 33 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
20 Aug 36.1 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 Aug 35.9 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
22 Aug 35.0 °C 33 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
23 Aug 37.0 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
24 Aug 35.3 °C 30 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
25 Aug 30.2 °C 36 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
26 Aug 30.3 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
27 Aug 33.7 °C 27 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
28 Aug 36.2 °C 21 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
29 Aug 37.0 °C 23 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
30 Aug 35.7 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
31 Aug 36.0 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Sept 36.7 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
2 Sept 37.0 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
3 Sept 35.7 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
4 Sept 35.4 °C 34 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
5 Sept 36.6 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
6 Sept 36.3 °C 21 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
7 Sept 35.7 °C 23 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
8 Sept 35.5 °C 30 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
9 Sept 37.0 °C 22 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
10 Sept 35.8 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
11 Sept 35.4 °C 38 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
12 Sept 36.0 °C 35 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
13 Sept 36.5 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
14 Sept 35.6 °C 34 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
15 Sept 33.0 °C 45 % 27 km/h 0.8 mm High 30
16 Sept 32.7 °C 44 % 28 km/h 0.3 mm High 26
17 Sept 36.3 °C 31 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
18 Sept 35.4 °C 37 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
19 Sept 35.1 °C 37 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
20 Sept 36.7 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 40
21 Sept 37.1 °C 30 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
22 Sept 37.0 °C 32 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Sept 37.3 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
24 Sept 35.4 °C 40 % 27 km/h 0.5 mm High 36
25 Sept after 36.3 °C 36 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
26 Sept after 35.4 °C 38 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Sept after 32.8 °C 45 % 36 km/h 5.6 mm Low 11

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 36.6, a minimum humidity of 28% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 17.

FWI at the start 36.6
Minimum humidity 28 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Rondolândia fire, July 2019
9,654 ha 17 days FWI 37.8 Min. humidity 27 % 53 km away, in 2019

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.0 mm on 19 Aug.

What happened to them

14 days
median duration
4,092 ha
median area
0 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.1 mm
rain at the end (median; 13 of 17 had it)

It was 6.4 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 57 days, against 14 days.

None of its 17 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 4 of 17, 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 2.1 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

5.6 mmfirst rain
27 Sept3 days after it ended
41km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 24 Sept, and on 27 Sept 5.6 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 13 of 17, with a median of 2.1 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 · 23 Jul 2024
After · 1 Oct 2024

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 · Copernicus

On 8 September 2024 the air beside the fire reached 239 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 190: 13 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak239 µg/m³
Days over the guideline47 days
PM10343 µg/m³
Optical depth5.30
4 Aug14 Aug24 Aug3 Sept13 Sept
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 1,520Every 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 Espigão d'Oeste fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 30 July 2024 to 24 September 2024 (57 days). The perimeter dates it from 6 August 2024 to 17 September 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 26,149 hectares (261.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Espigão d'Oeste (26,304 ha, 5.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.3 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, 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: 17. Their median duration was 14 days and their median area 4,092 ha; 0 % went past 10,000 ha. None of its 17 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 4 of 17, 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 2.1 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 · 6 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 17 September 2024 → 24 September 2024.
  2. Start date: 6 August 2024 → 30 July 2024.
  3. Last day with fire: 24 September 2024 → 17 September 2024.
  4. Start date: 30 July 2024 → 6 August 2024.
  5. Last day with fire: 17 September 2024 → 24 September 2024.
  6. Start date: 6 August 2024 → 30 July 2024.

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 6 August 2024 to 17 September 2024. 1,520 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.

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.