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Jenipapo dos Vieiras fire, 14 August 2017 Jenipapo dos Vieiras, Grajaú, Itaipava do Grajaú

Out · last detection 30 Sept 2017, 15:48 UTC

The fire started on 14 August 2017 in Jenipapo dos Vieiras, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 48 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 24,988 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

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 10th largest in Maranhão since 2016 (of 531 with a page). Number 51 in Brazil in 2017, of 994.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Arame · 2019Coroatá · 2017Jenipapo dos Vieiras · 2016Jenipapo dos Vieiras · 2017

Burnt area
24,988ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
48days
14 Aug 2017 – 30 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
14 Aug
2017
Heat detections
2,012
in a single hotspot: 279 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Average daily power
629MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Aug30 Sept
30 Sept 2017

How it evolved, day by day

14 Aug 2017 · 53 MW · 11 15 Aug 2017 · 28 MW · 7 16 Aug 2017 · 216 MW · 25 17 Aug 2017 · 66 MW · 8 18 Aug 2017 · 4 MW · 1 21 Aug 2017 · 38 MW · 8 22 Aug 2017 · 4 MW · 1 23 Aug 2017 · 499 MW · 30 24 Aug 2017 · 113 MW · 24 25 Aug 2017 · 96 MW · 13 26 Aug 2017 · 747 MW · 52 27 Aug 2017 · 1,066 MW · 97 28 Aug 2017 · 377 MW · 41 29 Aug 2017 · 10 MW · 3 30 Aug 2017 · 492 MW · 21 31 Aug 2017 · 523 MW · 44 1 Sept 2017 · 175 MW · 31 2 Sept 2017 · 136 MW · 13 3 Sept 2017 · 540 MW · 64 4 Sept 2017 · 401 MW · 42 5 Sept 2017 · 314 MW · 51 6 Sept 2017 · 294 MW · 41 7 Sept 2017 · 421 MW · 34 8 Sept 2017 · 593 MW · 22 9 Sept 2017 · 2,814 MW · 123 10 Sept 2017 · 2,485 MW · 202 11 Sept 2017 · 1,618 MW · 144 12 Sept 2017 · 2,888 MW · 195 13 Sept 2017 · 16 MW · 2 14 Sept 2017 · 803 MW · 30 15 Sept 2017 · 711 MW · 50 16 Sept 2017 · 2,168 MW · 137 17 Sept 2017 · 1,520 MW · 98 18 Sept 2017 · 639 MW · 45 19 Sept 2017 · 388 MW · 41 20 Sept 2017 · 1,203 MW · 35 21 Sept 2017 · 1,529 MW · 101 22 Sept 2017 · 1,464 MW · 38 23 Sept 2017 · 332 MW · 27 24 Sept 2017 · 92 MW · 9 25 Sept 2017 · 17 MW · 2 26 Sept 2017 · 219 MW · 34 27 Sept 2017 · 122 MW · 10 28 Sept 2017 · 22 MW · 3 30 Sept 2017 · 41 MW · 2
14 Aug 25 Aug 3 Sept 12 Sept 21 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

38°high
49km/h · peak gust
30%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

75% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 19,654 ha in 2016.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 16% of the area of London (250 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. Jenipapo dos Vieiras 17,076 inhabitants where it started
    18,994 ha reached on 14 Aug
    9.6 %
  2. Grajaú 73,872 inhabitants
    7,194 ha reached on 26 Aug
    0.8 %
  3. Itaipava do Grajaú
    158 ha reached on 16 Sept
    0.1 %

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 area6.6 ha
Residents≈ 1,100

Inside the perimeter there were about 6.6 hectares of built-up land and about 1,100 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)

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

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
14 Aug 35.7 °C 40 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
15 Aug 35.6 °C 42 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
16 Aug 34.6 °C 36 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
17 Aug 34.7 °C 44 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
18 Aug 34.9 °C 42 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
19 Aug 35.5 °C 41 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Aug 33.6 °C 53 % 29 km/h 0.9 mm High 22
21 Aug 34.6 °C 47 % 34 km/h 0.2 mm High 25
22 Aug 34.8 °C 42 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm High 32
23 Aug 34.8 °C 34 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
24 Aug 33.9 °C 43 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
25 Aug 34.5 °C 42 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
26 Aug 35.8 °C 35 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
27 Aug 35.6 °C 38 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
28 Aug 35.7 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
29 Aug 35.8 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
30 Aug 36.8 °C 32 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
31 Aug 37.0 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Sept 35.7 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.2 mm High 38
2 Sept 35.6 °C 37 % 40 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 42
3 Sept 35.4 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
4 Sept 35.0 °C 36 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
5 Sept 34.6 °C 36 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
6 Sept 35.4 °C 40 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
7 Sept 34.8 °C 43 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
8 Sept 36.4 °C 38 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
9 Sept 35.9 °C 33 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
10 Sept 36.5 °C 33 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
11 Sept 36.2 °C 35 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
12 Sept 36.6 °C 33 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
13 Sept 35.5 °C 38 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
14 Sept 36.4 °C 36 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
15 Sept 36.5 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
16 Sept 35.7 °C 31 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
17 Sept 35.8 °C 33 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
18 Sept 36.4 °C 36 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
19 Sept 37.4 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Sept 36.6 °C 37 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
21 Sept 37.1 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
22 Sept 36.2 °C 36 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
23 Sept 36.7 °C 33 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
24 Sept 36.6 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
25 Sept 35.4 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
26 Sept 37.5 °C 35 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
27 Sept 37.2 °C 35 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
28 Sept 37.5 °C 33 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
29 Sept 37.7 °C 35 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
30 Sept 36.6 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 47
1 Oct after 36.8 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
2 Oct after 36.9 °C 39 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
3 Oct after 37.9 °C 37 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
4 Oct after 37.4 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 39
5 Oct after 37.5 °C 32 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
6 Oct after 38.0 °C 31 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
7 Oct after 36.8 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
8 Oct after 36.6 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
9 Oct after 35.8 °C 42 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
10 Oct after 34.7 °C 46 % 35 km/h 0.3 mm High 36

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 33.3, a minimum humidity of 40% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 29.

FWI at the start 33.3
Minimum humidity 40 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Arame fire, September 2019
7,589 ha 10 days FWI 37.6 Min. humidity 43 % 75 km away, in 2019

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 5.5 mm on 2 Oct.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

17 days
median duration
5,223 ha
median area
21 %
went past 10,000 ha
3.4 mm
rain at the end (median; 16 of 29 had it)

It was 4.8 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 48 days, against 17 days.

None of its 29 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 13 of 29, 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 3.4 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

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
49km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 30 Sept, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 16 of 29, with a median of 3.4 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 · 7 Aug 2017
After · 7 Oct 2017

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 · 2,012Every 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 Jenipapo dos Vieiras fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 14 August 2017 to 30 September 2017 (48 days). The perimeter dates it from 21 August 2017 to 23 September 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 24,988 hectares (249.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Jenipapo dos Vieiras (18,994 ha, 9.6 %); Grajaú (7,194 ha, 0.8 %); Itaipava do Grajaú (158 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, 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: 29. Their median duration was 17 days and their median area 5,223 ha; 21 % went past 10,000 ha. None of its 29 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 13 of 29, 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 3.4 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 · 3 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Area: 26,176 → 24,988 ha.
  2. Last day with fire: 23 September 2017 → 30 September 2017.
  3. Start date: 21 August 2017 → 14 August 2017.

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; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 21 August 2017 to 23 September 2017. 2,012 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.