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Machadinho D'Oeste fire, August 2017 Machadinho D'Oeste

Out · last detection 9 Sept 2017, 17:22 UTC

The fire started on 20 August 2017 in Machadinho D'Oeste, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 22 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 11,658 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 33th largest in Rondônia since 2016 (of 288 with a page). Number 148 in Brazil in 2017, of 994.

Burnt area
11,658ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
22days
20 Aug 2017 – 10 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
20 Aug
2017
Heat detections
864
in a single hotspot: 232 MW
Danger at start
21
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
512MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Aug10 Sept
9 Sept 2017

How it evolved, day by day

20 Aug 2017 · 114 MW · 2 21 Aug 2017 · 1 MW · 1 22 Aug 2017 · 11 MW · 13 23 Aug 2017 · 81 MW · 23 24 Aug 2017 · 1,779 MW · 47 25 Aug 2017 · 839 MW · 86 26 Aug 2017 · 494 MW · 60 27 Aug 2017 · 69 MW · 51 28 Aug 2017 · 716 MW · 70 29 Aug 2017 · 2,216 MW · 90 30 Aug 2017 · 382 MW · 58 1 Sept 2017 · 2 MW · 2 2 Sept 2017 · 193 MW · 10 3 Sept 2017 · 551 MW · 47 4 Sept 2017 · 381 MW · 33 5 Sept 2017 · 1,121 MW · 56 6 Sept 2017 · 254 MW · 95 7 Sept 2017 · 323 MW · 91 8 Sept 2017 · 663 MW · 28 9 Sept 2017 · 44 MW · 1
20 Aug 24 Aug 29 Aug 2 Sept 6 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
45km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 9.2 mm on 11 Sept.

This area had burned before

85% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 12,940 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 9,853 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 7.4% of the area of London (117 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. Machadinho D'Oeste 30,707 inhabitants where it started
    13,674 ha reached on 20 Aug
    1.6 %

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 area2.0 ha
Residents≈ 150

Inside the perimeter there were about 2.0 hectares of built-up land and about 150 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)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
20 Aug 34.9 °C 35 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
21 Aug 30.5 °C 54 % 45 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 13
22 Aug 33.0 °C 46 % 26 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 15
23 Aug 34.9 °C 40 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
24 Aug 32.2 °C 54 % 24 km/h 3.6 mm Very low 4
25 Aug 36.3 °C 37 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
26 Aug 36.2 °C 30 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
27 Aug 37.7 °C 25 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
28 Aug 36.5 °C 29 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
29 Aug 36.9 °C 31 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
30 Aug 36.7 °C 35 % 23 km/h 0.2 mm High 27
31 Aug 36.5 °C 34 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
1 Sept 36.0 °C 39 % 25 km/h 0.4 mm High 26
2 Sept 35.9 °C 38 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
3 Sept 37.0 °C 36 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
4 Sept 38.0 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
5 Sept 38.4 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
6 Sept 38.0 °C 19 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
7 Sept 34.8 °C 33 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
8 Sept 37.3 °C 37 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
9 Sept 35.7 °C 39 % 27 km/h 1.2 mm Moderate 20
10 Sept 35.6 °C 40 % 31 km/h 3.3 mm Low 9
11 Sept after 34.1 °C 49 % 25 km/h 9.2 mm Very low 3

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 21.1, a minimum humidity of 35% and 1 day without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 26.

FWI at the start 21.1
Minimum humidity 35 %
Days without rain 1
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Colniza fire, August 2022
3,430 ha 26 days FWI 21.5 Min. humidity 35 % 146 km away, in 2022

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 7.9 mm on 18 Sept.

What happened to them

15 days
median duration
3,940 ha
median area
4 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.5 mm
rain at the end (median; 23 of 26 had it)

It was 3.0 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 22 days, against 15 days.

Only 1 of its 26 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 3 of 26, 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 2.5 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

9.2 mmfirst rain
11 Septthe day after it ended
45km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 10 Sept, and on 11 Sept 9.2 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 23 of 26, with a median of 2.5 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 · 13 Aug 2017
After · 17 Sept 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 · 864Every 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 Machadinho D'Oeste fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 August 2017 to 10 September 2017 (22 days). The perimeter dates it from 20 August 2017 to 8 September 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 11,658 hectares (116.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Machadinho D'Oeste (13,674 ha, 1.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.4 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, 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: 26. Their median duration was 15 days and their median area 3,940 ha; 4 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 1 of its 26 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 3 of 26, 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 2.5 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 · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Area: 13,588 → 11,658 ha.
  2. Last day with fire: 8 September 2017 → 10 September 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 20 August 2017 to 8 September 2017. 864 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.