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Óbidos fire, September 2023 Óbidos, Almeirim

Out · last detection 22 Oct 2023, 17:38 UTC

The fire started on 17 September 2023 in Óbidos, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 35 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 48,531 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 33th largest in Pará since 2016 (of 1096 with a page). Number 5 in Brazil in 2023, of 431.

Burnt area
48,531ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
35days
17 Sept 2023 – 21 Oct 2023
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
17 Sept
2023
Heat detections
1,676
in a single hotspot: 178 MW
Danger at start
16
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
336MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

22 Oct 2023
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Sept21 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

17 Sept 2023 · 63 MW · 10 18 Sept 2023 · 48 MW · 10 19 Sept 2023 · 70 MW · 12 20 Sept 2023 · 107 MW · 19 21 Sept 2023 · 137 MW · 24 22 Sept 2023 · 66 MW · 12 24 Sept 2023 · 55 MW · 9 25 Sept 2023 · 205 MW · 28 26 Sept 2023 · 373 MW · 27 27 Sept 2023 · 194 MW · 41 28 Sept 2023 · 958 MW · 82 29 Sept 2023 · 929 MW · 154 30 Sept 2023 · 727 MW · 115 1 Oct 2023 · 699 MW · 79 2 Oct 2023 · 276 MW · 73 3 Oct 2023 · 200 MW · 48 4 Oct 2023 · 380 MW · 46 5 Oct 2023 · 220 MW · 43 6 Oct 2023 · 84 MW · 16 7 Oct 2023 · 442 MW · 49 8 Oct 2023 · 1,334 MW · 104 9 Oct 2023 · 404 MW · 56 10 Oct 2023 · 273 MW · 58 11 Oct 2023 · 321 MW · 75 12 Oct 2023 · 172 MW · 48 13 Oct 2023 · 325 MW · 53 14 Oct 2023 · 859 MW · 84 15 Oct 2023 · 100 MW · 27 16 Oct 2023 · 283 MW · 77 17 Oct 2023 · 155 MW · 17 18 Oct 2023 · 241 MW · 38 19 Oct 2023 · 447 MW · 36 20 Oct 2023 · 251 MW · 40 21 Oct 2023 · 98 MW · 24 22 Oct 2023 · 254 MW · 29
17 Sept 22 Sept 28 Sept 3 Oct 8 Oct 13 Oct 18 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

37°high
43km/h · peak gust
25%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

55% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 9,842 ha in 2016, 3,738 ha in 2017, 18,083 ha in 2018, 1,360 ha in 2019, 930 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 26,854 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Óbidos 52,229 inhabitants where it started
    48,436 ha reached on 15 Sept
    1.7 %
  2. Almeirim 35,114 inhabitants
    446 ha reached on 8 Oct
    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)
10 Sept 34.1 °C 41 % 37 km/h 1.7 mm Moderate 16
11 Sept 32.2 °C 49 % 35 km/h 5.1 mm Very low 5
12 Sept 32.4 °C 46 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 13
13 Sept 33.9 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
14 Sept 34.0 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
15 Sept 34.5 °C 41 % 32 km/h 0.4 mm High 22
16 Sept 34.4 °C 38 % 38 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 20
17 Sept 34.7 °C 36 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
18 Sept 33.7 °C 37 % 37 km/h 0.2 mm High 24
19 Sept 35.1 °C 32 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
20 Sept 34.9 °C 38 % 24 km/h 0.3 mm High 26
21 Sept 34.4 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm High 26
22 Sept 33.6 °C 44 % 22 km/h 1.5 mm Moderate 14
23 Sept 34.2 °C 39 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm High 25
24 Sept 35.3 °C 31 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
25 Sept 35.6 °C 31 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
26 Sept 35.8 °C 30 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
27 Sept 36.5 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
28 Sept 36.1 °C 31 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
29 Sept 36.4 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
30 Sept 36.4 °C 26 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
1 Oct 36.1 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
2 Oct 35.7 °C 38 % 33 km/h 0.9 mm High 26
3 Oct 35.0 °C 38 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
4 Oct 35.8 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
5 Oct 35.7 °C 30 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
6 Oct 36.3 °C 25 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
7 Oct 36.1 °C 27 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
8 Oct 36.1 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
9 Oct 35.9 °C 26 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
10 Oct 36.1 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
11 Oct 36.5 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
12 Oct 35.6 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
13 Oct 35.0 °C 33 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
14 Oct 36.9 °C 30 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
15 Oct 35.6 °C 29 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
16 Oct 35.7 °C 34 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
17 Oct 35.0 °C 39 % 30 km/h 1.2 mm High 27
18 Oct 32.2 °C 49 % 25 km/h 9.2 mm Very low 4
19 Oct 33.1 °C 48 % 37 km/h 1.5 mm Moderate 13
20 Oct 34.9 °C 40 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
21 Oct 35.1 °C 41 % 40 km/h 0.2 mm High 26
22 Oct after 35.6 °C 39 % 25 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 20
23 Oct after 34.7 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.3 mm High 26
24 Oct after 34.7 °C 34 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
25 Oct after 35.6 °C 32 % 28 km/h 0.1 mm High 29
26 Oct after 35.8 °C 28 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Oct after 36.9 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
28 Oct after 36.4 °C 24 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
29 Oct after 36.5 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
30 Oct after 36.4 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
31 Oct after 36.6 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
1 Nov after 35.0 °C 41 % 35 km/h 0.4 mm High 35
2 Nov after 35.3 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.3 mm High 32
3 Nov after 35.4 °C 37 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Nov after 35.8 °C 32 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 10 Sept 2023
After · 28 Oct 2023

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 1 October 2023 the air beside the fire reached 41 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 23: 1.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak41 µg/m³
Days over the guideline9 days
PM1059 µg/m³
Optical depth0.74
15161718192021222324252627282930123456789101112131415161718192021222324
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 1,676Every 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 Óbidos fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 17 September 2023 and 21 October 2023: 35 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 48,531 hectares (485.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Óbidos (48,436 ha, 1.7 %); Almeirim (446 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.9 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, 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.