How long did the Grajaú fire last?

GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 August 2016 and 21 September 2016: 32 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 24,102 hectares (241.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire only entered Grajaú (24,264 ha, 2.7 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 36.2 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 45 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.

BR · Brazil · 2016-08-21 → 2016-09-21

Grajaú fire, 21 August 2016 Grajaú

Out · last detection 21 Sept 2016, 16:01 UTC

The fire started on 21 August 2016 in Grajaú, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 32 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 24,102 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 11th largest in Maranhão since 2016 (of 607 with a page). Number 17 in Brazil in 2016, of 649.

Burnt area: 24,102ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 32days; 21 Aug 2016 – 21 Sept 2016
Municipalities hit: 1; municipalities
Started on: 21 Aug; 2016
Heat detections: 1,346; in a single hotspot: 121 MW
Danger at start: 38; High · FWI index
Energy released: 15.1GW; sum of detected power

Play back 21 Sept 2016

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Aug21 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

2122232425262728293031123456789101112131415161718192021

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

45km/h · peak gust

22%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.1 mm on 23 Sept.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

Grajaú 73,872 inhabitants where it started

24,264 ha reached on 20 Aug

2.7 %

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)
14 Aug	34.3 °C	25 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
15 Aug	34.0 °C	31 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
16 Aug	33.9 °C	36 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
17 Aug	34.7 °C	35 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
18 Aug	34.8 °C	38 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
19 Aug	34.0 °C	35 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
20 Aug	34.7 °C	28 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
21 Aug	34.1 °C	36 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
22 Aug	34.9 °C	35 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
23 Aug	32.0 °C	47 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 31
24 Aug	34.4 °C	25 %	37 km/h	0.2 mm	Very high 40
25 Aug	34.5 °C	25 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
26 Aug	34.5 °C	29 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
27 Aug	34.5 °C	29 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
28 Aug	33.7 °C	31 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
29 Aug	34.7 °C	26 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
30 Aug	35.2 °C	26 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
31 Aug	34.4 °C	34 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
1 Sept	36.2 °C	26 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
2 Sept	36.1 °C	24 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
3 Sept	34.9 °C	25 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
4 Sept	34.5 °C	28 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
5 Sept	35.8 °C	25 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
6 Sept	36.1 °C	25 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
7 Sept	35.7 °C	27 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
8 Sept	34.4 °C	39 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
9 Sept	33.4 °C	42 %	29 km/h	0.4 mm	High 30
10 Sept	35.9 °C	22 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
11 Sept	34.9 °C	25 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
12 Sept	35.4 °C	28 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
13 Sept	33.8 °C	40 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
14 Sept	36.0 °C	26 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
15 Sept	35.4 °C	33 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
16 Sept	35.4 °C	34 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
17 Sept	34.7 °C	38 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
18 Sept	33.8 °C	36 %	37 km/h	0.2 mm	High 37
19 Sept	34.8 °C	30 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
20 Sept	33.6 °C	40 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
21 Sept	33.6 °C	40 %	33 km/h	0.1 mm	High 34
22 Sept after	34.5 °C	40 %	36 km/h	0.4 mm	High 37
23 Sept after	31.1 °C	52 %	32 km/h	4.1 mm	Low 6

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 14 Aug 2016

After · 28 Sept 2016

Before After

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 · 1,346Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Brazil ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Grajaú fire last?: GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 August 2016 and 21 September 2016: 32 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 24,102 hectares (241.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire only entered Grajaú (24,264 ha, 2.7 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 36.2 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 45 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

INPE · Programa Queimadas ↗
IBAMA · Prevfogo ↗

Satellite cross-check

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

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.

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What really happened?

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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.

Where it burned