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Jardim do Mulato fire, September 2018 Jardim do Mulato, Regeneração

Out · last detection 3 Oct 2018, 15:48 UTC

The fire started on 21 September 2018 in Jardim do Mulato, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,945 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 303th largest in Piaui since 2016 (of 665 with a page). Number 98 in Brazil in 2018, of 291.

Burnt area
4,945ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
13days
21 Sept 2018 – 3 Oct 2018
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
21 Sept
2018
Heat detections
201
in a single hotspot: 49 MW
Danger at start
42
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
174MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Sept3 Oct
3 Oct 2018

How it evolved, day by day

21 Sept 2018 · 3 MW · 2 22 Sept 2018 · 683 MW · 57 23 Sept 2018 · 309 MW · 38 24 Sept 2018 · 285 MW · 32 25 Sept 2018 · 22 MW · 3 26 Sept 2018 · 10 MW · 2 27 Sept 2018 · 288 MW · 15 28 Sept 2018 · 394 MW · 30 29 Sept 2018 · 48 MW · 6 30 Sept 2018 · 3 MW · 1 1 Oct 2018 · 39 MW · 2 2 Oct 2018 · 138 MW · 9 3 Oct 2018 · 37 MW · 4
22 Sept 27 Sept 30 Sept 3 Oct

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
37km/h · peak gust
26%lowest humidity

It had gone 14 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 5 Oct.

This area had burned before

49% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,499 ha in 2016, 413 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,436 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 3.1% of the area of London (49 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. Jardim do Mulato 4,180 inhabitants where it started
    4,450 ha reached on 21 Sept
    8.7 %
  2. Regeneração 17,133 inhabitants
    527 ha reached on 24 Sept
    0.4 %

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 2020
Built-up area1.2 ha
Residents≈ 90

Inside the perimeter there were about 1.2 hectares of built-up land and about 90 residents (GHSL 2020, 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)
21 Sept 36.8 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Sept 36.4 °C 26 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Sept 36.5 °C 33 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
24 Sept 36.2 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
25 Sept 35.5 °C 38 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
26 Sept 36.7 °C 36 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
27 Sept 36.7 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Sept 37.7 °C 31 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
29 Sept 37.0 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
30 Sept 36.2 °C 37 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
1 Oct 35.8 °C 37 % 31 km/h 0.3 mm High 36
2 Oct 36.3 °C 34 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
3 Oct 37.2 °C 32 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Oct after 37.7 °C 32 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Oct after 36.5 °C 42 % 23 km/h 1.3 mm High 22

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 42.3, a minimum humidity of 31% and 14 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 36.

FWI at the start 42.3
Minimum humidity 31 %
Days without rain 14
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

São Francisco do Maranhão fire, September 2025
4,071 ha 17 days FWI 42.3 Min. humidity 30 % 85 km away, in 2025

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.4 mm on 20 Oct.

What happened to them

16 days
median duration
4,438 ha
median area
8 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.4 mm
rain at the end (median; 8 of 36 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (4,945 ha against a median of 4,438 ha) and lasted 13 days, against 16 days.

In 28 of 36, 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 2.4 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

1.3 mmfirst rain
5 Oct2 days after it ended
37km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 3 Oct, and on 5 Oct 1.3 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 8 of 36, with a median of 2.4 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 · 14 Sept 2018
After · 10 Oct 2018

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 · 201Every 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 Jardim do Mulato fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 September 2018 and 3 October 2018: 13 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 4,945 hectares (49.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Jardim do Mulato (4,450 ha, 8.7 %); Regeneração (527 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, 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.
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: 36. Their median duration was 16 days and their median area 4,438 ha; 8 % went past 10,000 ha. In 28 of 36, 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 2.4 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 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

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.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 201 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 2020, 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.