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BR · Brazil · –

Floriano fire, 23 September 2025 Floriano

Out · last detection 12 Oct 2025, 15:38 UTC

The fire started on 23 September 2025 in Floriano, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 20 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,285 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 573th largest in Piaui since 2016 (of 665 with a page). Number 464 in Brazil in 2025, of 526.

The power measured by the satellite is low (26.1 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
3,285ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
20days
23 Sept 2025 – 12 Oct 2025
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
23 Sept
2025
Heat detections
121
in a single hotspot: 26 MW
Danger at start
48
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
40MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 23 Sept12 Oct
12 Oct 2025

How it evolved, day by day

23 Sept 2025 · 4 MW · 1 24 Sept 2025 · 17 MW · 4 25 Sept 2025 · 57 MW · 13 26 Sept 2025 · 33 MW · 12 27 Sept 2025 · 78 MW · 26 28 Sept 2025 · 150 MW · 17 29 Sept 2025 · 140 MW · 17 30 Sept 2025 · 20 MW · 3 1 Oct 2025 · 4 MW · 1 2 Oct 2025 · 13 MW · 3 3 Oct 2025 · 15 MW · 6 4 Oct 2025 · 19 MW · 3 5 Oct 2025 · 81 MW · 7 8 Oct 2025 · 20 MW · 2 9 Oct 2025 · 6 MW · 2 10 Oct 2025 · 8 MW · 1 12 Oct 2025 · 15 MW · 3
23 Sept 28 Sept 1 Oct 5 Oct 12 Oct

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

The weather it burned in

39°high
55km/h · peak gust
17%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.7 mm on 21 Oct.

This area had burned before

65% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,013 ha in 2016, 1,129 ha in 2018, 125 ha in 2019, 133 ha in 2021, 1,129 ha in 2022, 825 ha in 2023, 79 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,148 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 2.1% of the area of London (33 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. Floriano 62,036 inhabitants where it started
    3,308 ha reached on 23 Sept
    1.0 %

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 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)

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

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
23 Sept 38.6 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
24 Sept 37.7 °C 24 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
25 Sept 37.0 °C 20 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
26 Sept 37.0 °C 24 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
27 Sept 36.8 °C 21 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
28 Sept 36.5 °C 22 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
29 Sept 36.7 °C 24 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
30 Sept 37.1 °C 22 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
1 Oct 37.2 °C 24 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
2 Oct 38.0 °C 21 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
3 Oct 37.1 °C 20 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
4 Oct 37.2 °C 17 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
5 Oct 37.7 °C 21 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
6 Oct 38.0 °C 21 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
7 Oct 38.2 °C 22 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
8 Oct 39.1 °C 22 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
9 Oct 38.3 °C 23 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
10 Oct 38.5 °C 21 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
11 Oct 38.3 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
12 Oct 38.7 °C 21 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
13 Oct after 38.1 °C 25 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
14 Oct after 38.6 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
15 Oct after 38.7 °C 19 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
16 Oct after 38.4 °C 16 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
17 Oct after 38.7 °C 19 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
18 Oct after 38.0 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
19 Oct after 38.2 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Oct after 32.8 °C 45 % 28 km/h 0.9 mm High 28
21 Oct after 31.9 °C 44 % 55 km/h 3.7 mm High 23

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 48.2, a minimum humidity of 26% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 59.

FWI at the start 48.2
Minimum humidity 26 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Santo Inácio do Piauí fire, October 2017
6,631 ha 9 days FWI 47.8 Min. humidity 26 % 103 km away, in 2017

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 12.5 mm on 31 Oct.

What happened to them

16 days
median duration
4,800 ha
median area
15 %
went past 10,000 ha
4.3 mm
rain at the end (median; 16 of 59 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (3,285 ha against a median of 4,800 ha) and lasted 20 days, against 16 days.

In 43 of 59, 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 4.3 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

3.7 mmfirst rain
21 Oct9 days after it ended
55km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 12 Oct, and on 21 Oct 3.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 16 of 59, with a median of 4.3 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 · 16 Sept 2025
After · 19 Oct 2025

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 6 October 2025 the air beside the fire reached 17 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak17 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1018 µg/m³
Optical depth0.38
21 Sept25 Sept29 Sept3 Oct7 Oct
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 · 121Every 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 Floriano fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 23 September 2025 to 12 October 2025 (20 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 September 2025 to 6 October 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,285 hectares (32.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Floriano (3,308 ha, 1.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.1 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 71, class Very 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: 59. Their median duration was 16 days and their median area 4,800 ha; 15 % went past 10,000 ha. In 43 of 59, 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 4.3 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 · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 6 October 2025 → 12 October 2025.

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 23 September 2025 to 6 October 2025. 121 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 2025, 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.