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Itainópolis fire, September 2021 Aroeiras do Itaim, Itainópolis

Out · last detection 24 Sept 2021, 03:30 UTC

The fire started on 16 September 2021 in Itainópolis, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,642 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 404th largest in Piaui since 2016 (of 804 with a page). Number 439 in Brazil in 2021, of 814.

Burnt area
4,642ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
16 Sept 2021 – 24 Sept 2021
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
16 Sept
2021
Heat detections
319
in a single hotspot: 245 MW
Danger at start
53
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
3.4GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

24 Sept 2021
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Sept24 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

161718192021222324

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
47km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

19% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 867 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Aroeiras do Itaim 2,690 inhabitants
    2,663 ha reached on 17 Sept
    8.4 %
  2. Itainópolis 10,790 inhabitants where it started
    2,009 ha reached on 16 Sept
    2.4 %

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)
16 Sept 36.9 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
17 Sept 36.5 °C 18 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
18 Sept 35.9 °C 23 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
19 Sept 37.7 °C 22 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
20 Sept 37.6 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
21 Sept 37.5 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
22 Sept 39.4 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
23 Sept 37.9 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
24 Sept 36.3 °C 26 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
25 Sept after 34.9 °C 32 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
26 Sept after 37.0 °C 28 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
27 Sept after 37.4 °C 21 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
28 Sept after 37.5 °C 21 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
29 Sept after 35.9 °C 27 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
30 Sept after 36.9 °C 27 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
1 Oct after 36.5 °C 29 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 Oct after 36.9 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
3 Oct after 38.3 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
4 Oct after 38.2 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 Sept 2021
After · 1 Oct 2021

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 · 319Every 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 Itainópolis fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 September 2021 and 24 September 2021: 9 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 4,642 hectares (46.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Aroeiras do Itaim (2,663 ha, 8.4 %); Itainópolis (2,009 ha, 2.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.4 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, 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.

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.