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Gaúcha do Norte fire, 27 July 2016 Gaúcha do Norte

Out · last detection 2 Sept 2016, 16:56 UTC

The fire started on 27 July 2016 in Gaúcha do Norte, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 38 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 16,662 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 235th largest in Mato Grosso since 2016 (of 1996 with a page). Number 32 in Brazil in 2016, of 649.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Gaúcha do Norte · 2020Gaúcha do Norte · 2024Gaúcha do Norte · 2016Gaúcha do Norte · 2022

Burnt area
16,662ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
38days
27 Jul 2016 – 2 Sept 2016
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
27 Jul
2016
Heat detections
967
in a single hotspot: 162 MW
Danger at start
38
High · FWI index
Average daily power
264MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 27 Jul2 Sept
2 Sept 2016

How it evolved, day by day

27 Jul 2016 · 99 MW · 4 29 Jul 2016 · 249 MW · 16 30 Jul 2016 · 159 MW · 19 31 Jul 2016 · 195 MW · 18 1 Aug 2016 · 302 MW · 25 2 Aug 2016 · 56 MW · 6 3 Aug 2016 · 68 MW · 8 4 Aug 2016 · 36 MW · 6 5 Aug 2016 · 314 MW · 25 6 Aug 2016 · 323 MW · 42 7 Aug 2016 · 76 MW · 12 8 Aug 2016 · 64 MW · 5 9 Aug 2016 · 106 MW · 12 10 Aug 2016 · 45 MW · 20 11 Aug 2016 · 121 MW · 20 12 Aug 2016 · 566 MW · 39 13 Aug 2016 · 159 MW · 16 14 Aug 2016 · 117 MW · 22 15 Aug 2016 · 413 MW · 73 16 Aug 2016 · 331 MW · 81 17 Aug 2016 · 5 MW · 1 20 Aug 2016 · 13 MW · 1 21 Aug 2016 · 4 MW · 4 22 Aug 2016 · 107 MW · 18 23 Aug 2016 · 85 MW · 21 24 Aug 2016 · 1,063 MW · 41 25 Aug 2016 · 186 MW · 93 26 Aug 2016 · 660 MW · 132 27 Aug 2016 · 2,444 MW · 112 28 Aug 2016 · 81 MW · 23 31 Aug 2016 · 22 MW · 10 1 Sept 2016 · 187 MW · 38 2 Sept 2016 · 43 MW · 4
27 Jul 2 Aug 7 Aug 12 Aug 17 Aug 24 Aug 27 Aug 31 Aug

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
45km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months 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.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 11% of the area of London (167 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. Gaúcha do Norte 8,642 inhabitants where it started
    16,766 ha reached on 27 Jul
    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 2015
Built-up area0.34 ha
Residents≈ 80

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.34 hectares of built-up land and about 80 residents (GHSL 2015, 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)
29 Jul 34.5 °C 23 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
30 Jul 34.0 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
31 Jul 33.0 °C 27 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
1 Aug 33.0 °C 29 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
2 Aug 33.3 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
3 Aug 33.8 °C 28 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Aug 35.1 °C 28 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Aug 35.2 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
6 Aug 34.4 °C 30 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
7 Aug 35.2 °C 25 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
8 Aug 36.2 °C 24 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
9 Aug 36.4 °C 23 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
10 Aug 35.4 °C 30 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
11 Aug 36.1 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
12 Aug 36.1 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
13 Aug 37.0 °C 25 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
14 Aug 36.4 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
15 Aug 36.3 °C 34 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Aug 35.8 °C 35 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Aug 35.7 °C 37 % 24 km/h 0.1 mm High 33
18 Aug 36.2 °C 33 % 21 km/h 0.1 mm High 32
19 Aug 36.8 °C 28 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
20 Aug 35.9 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
21 Aug 30.0 °C 57 % 45 km/h 2.5 mm Moderate 11
22 Aug 29.2 °C 39 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
23 Aug 33.5 °C 33 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
24 Aug 36.5 °C 27 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
25 Aug 34.3 °C 37 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Aug 35.5 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.2 mm High 34
27 Aug 35.7 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Aug 36.3 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Aug 31.8 °C 41 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
30 Aug 33.1 °C 42 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm High 30
31 Aug 30.7 °C 51 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
1 Sept 34.9 °C 36 % 29 km/h 0.5 mm High 29
2 Sept 35.5 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.2 mm High 31
3 Sept after 33.6 °C 37 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
4 Sept after 31.7 °C 38 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
5 Sept after 35.4 °C 29 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
6 Sept after 33.4 °C 38 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
7 Sept after 36.3 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
8 Sept after 36.2 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
9 Sept after 38.0 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
10 Sept after 38.0 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
11 Sept after 37.7 °C 21 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
12 Sept after 37.8 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 20 Jul 2016
After · 9 Sept 2016

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 · 967Every 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 Gaúcha do Norte fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 27 July 2016 to 2 September 2016 (38 days). The perimeter dates it from 29 July 2016 to 1 September 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 16,662 hectares (166.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Gaúcha do Norte (16,766 ha, 1.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.0 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 43, 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 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 29 July 2016 to 1 September 2016. 967 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 2015, 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.