How long did the Itinga do Maranhão fire last?

GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 4 September 2017 and 22 September 2017: 19 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 3,699 hectares (37.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Itinga do Maranhão (3,709 ha, 1.0 %); Ulianópolis (14 ha, 0.0 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, 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 · 2017-09-04 → 2017-09-22

Itinga do Maranhão fire, September 2017 Itinga do Maranhão, Ulianópolis

Out · last detection 22 Sept 2017, 16:39 UTC

The fire started on 4 September 2017 in Itinga do Maranhão, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 19 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,699 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 404th largest in Maranhão since 2016 (of 607 with a page). Number 719 in Brazil in 2017, of 994.

Burnt area: 3,699ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 19days; 4 Sept 2017 – 22 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit: 2; municipalities
Started on: 4 Sept; 2017
Heat detections: 166; in a single hotspot: 203 MW
Danger at start: 32; High · FWI index
Energy released: 1.9GW; sum of detected power

Play back 22 Sept 2017

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 4 Sept22 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

456910111213141516171819202122

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

48km/h · peak gust

29%lowest humidity

It had gone 57 days 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.

What happened to each town

Itinga do Maranhão 22,513 inhabitants where it started

3,709 ha reached on 4 Sept

1.0 %
Ulianópolis 37,972 inhabitants

14 ha

0.0 %

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)
30 Aug	37.0 °C	35 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
31 Aug	36.8 °C	36 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
1 Sept	35.5 °C	43 %	37 km/h	0.1 mm	High 34
2 Sept	35.1 °C	44 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
3 Sept	36.6 °C	29 %	46 km/h	0.1 mm	High 36
4 Sept	36.2 °C	34 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
5 Sept	36.4 °C	34 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
6 Sept	36.6 °C	37 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
7 Sept	35.9 °C	43 %	46 km/h	0.2 mm	High 34
8 Sept	36.0 °C	42 %	42 km/h	0.2 mm	High 34
9 Sept	36.2 °C	39 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
10 Sept	37.7 °C	29 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
11 Sept	36.6 °C	35 %	37 km/h	0.2 mm	High 38
12 Sept	37.7 °C	32 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
13 Sept	34.6 °C	47 %	43 km/h	0.3 mm	High 31
14 Sept	36.3 °C	37 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
15 Sept	35.6 °C	43 %	45 km/h	0.2 mm	High 30
16 Sept	37.1 °C	29 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
17 Sept	36.5 °C	33 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
18 Sept	35.8 °C	39 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
19 Sept	36.8 °C	34 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
20 Sept	36.1 °C	42 %	40 km/h	0.1 mm	High 33
21 Sept	36.6 °C	38 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
22 Sept	36.2 °C	41 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
23 Sept after	35.2 °C	44 %	43 km/h	0.1 mm	High 33
24 Sept after	35.0 °C	42 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
25 Sept after	35.0 °C	41 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 31
26 Sept after	36.8 °C	38 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
27 Sept after	35.9 °C	42 %	48 km/h	1.2 mm	High 25
28 Sept after	36.7 °C	43 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
29 Sept after	37.0 °C	39 %	54 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
30 Sept after	35.8 °C	40 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
1 Oct after	36.8 °C	35 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
2 Oct after	36.5 °C	40 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
3 Oct after	37.3 °C	40 %	40 km/h	0.2 mm	High 35
4 Oct after	37.5 °C	39 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
5 Oct after	36.9 °C	40 %	45 km/h	0.2 mm	High 36
6 Oct after	37.4 °C	40 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
7 Oct after	36.2 °C	36 %	38 km/h	0.2 mm	High 33
8 Oct after	36.3 °C	40 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 28 Aug 2017

After · 29 Sept 2017

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 · 166Every 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 Itinga do Maranhão fire last?: GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 4 September 2017 and 22 September 2017: 19 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 3,699 hectares (37.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Itinga do Maranhão (3,709 ha, 1.0 %); Ulianópolis (14 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, 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 ↗

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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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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