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Lizarda fire, August 2018 Lizarda, Centenário

Out · last detection 24 Aug 2018, 16:37 UTC

The fire started on 18 August 2018 in Lizarda, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,292 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 746th largest in Tocantins since 2016 (of 1242 with a page). Number 138 in Brazil in 2018, of 291.

The power measured by the satellite is low (24.6 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
4,292ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
18 Aug 2018 – 24 Aug 2018
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
18 Aug
2018
Heat detections
119
in a single hotspot: 25 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Energy released
749MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

24 Aug 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Aug24 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

18192021222324

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
42km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 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

  1. Lizarda 2,999 inhabitants where it started
    4,250 ha reached on 18 Aug
    0.7 %
  2. Centenário 2,131 inhabitants
    65 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)
18 Aug 34.7 °C 35 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
19 Aug 35.2 °C 32 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
20 Aug 36.1 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
21 Aug 36.2 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
22 Aug 36.9 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
23 Aug 36.7 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
24 Aug 37.5 °C 22 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
25 Aug after 37.1 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
26 Aug after 37.5 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
27 Aug after 37.5 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
28 Aug after 36.1 °C 27 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
29 Aug after 35.8 °C 25 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
30 Aug after 36.0 °C 20 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
31 Aug after 35.7 °C 26 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
1 Sept after 35.9 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
2 Sept after 37.4 °C 25 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
3 Sept after 37.1 °C 27 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
4 Sept after 35.7 °C 34 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
5 Sept after 33.8 °C 39 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 33

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 11 Aug 2018
After · 31 Aug 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 · 119Every 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 Lizarda fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 August 2018 and 24 August 2018: 7 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 4,292 hectares (42.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Lizarda (4,250 ha, 0.7 %); Centenário (65 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.5 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 42 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

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.