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Ourilândia do Norte fire, July 2022 Ourilândia do Norte, São Félix do Xingu

Out · last detection 14 Aug 2022, 16:32 UTC

The fire started on 25 July 2022 in Ourilândia do Norte, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 21 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 13,796 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 127th largest in Pará since 2016 (of 957 with a page). Number 58 in Brazil in 2022, of 682.

Burnt area
13,796ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
21days
25 Jul 2022 – 14 Aug 2022
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
25 Jul
2022
Heat detections
371
in a single hotspot: 161 MW
Danger at start
38
High · FWI index
Average daily power
165MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 25 Jul14 Aug
14 Aug 2022

How it evolved, day by day

25 Jul 2022 · 50 MW · 7 26 Jul 2022 · 18 MW · 5 27 Jul 2022 · 11 MW · 3 28 Jul 2022 · 108 MW · 16 29 Jul 2022 · 6 MW · 6 30 Jul 2022 · 192 MW · 12 31 Jul 2022 · 259 MW · 19 1 Aug 2022 · 221 MW · 30 2 Aug 2022 · 296 MW · 37 3 Aug 2022 · 35 MW · 5 4 Aug 2022 · 10 MW · 2 5 Aug 2022 · 816 MW · 46 6 Aug 2022 · 115 MW · 15 7 Aug 2022 · 162 MW · 23 8 Aug 2022 · 385 MW · 48 9 Aug 2022 · 263 MW · 30 10 Aug 2022 · 153 MW · 31 11 Aug 2022 · 135 MW · 11 12 Aug 2022 · 177 MW · 21 13 Aug 2022 · 1 MW · 2 14 Aug 2022 · 50 MW · 2
25 Jul 30 Jul 5 Aug 9 Aug 14 Aug

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

34°high
41km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity

It had gone 39 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 10,386 ha in 2017, 1,116 ha in 2019, 12,415 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 13,740 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 8.7% of the area of London (138 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. Ourilândia do Norte 32,467 inhabitants where it started
    14,065 ha reached on 25 Jul
    1.0 %
  2. São Félix do Xingu 65,418 inhabitants
    30 ha
    0.0 %

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 area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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)
25 Jul 33.1 °C 29 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
26 Jul 31.8 °C 32 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
27 Jul 31.1 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 Jul 31.8 °C 30 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
29 Jul 32.5 °C 27 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
30 Jul 32.7 °C 29 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
31 Jul 32.2 °C 36 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
1 Aug 32.5 °C 35 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
2 Aug 32.0 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Aug 33.0 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
4 Aug 33.2 °C 34 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
5 Aug 32.2 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
6 Aug 32.1 °C 46 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
7 Aug 32.1 °C 48 % 30 km/h 0.1 mm High 28
8 Aug 32.9 °C 30 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
9 Aug 34.4 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
10 Aug 33.3 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
11 Aug 32.2 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
12 Aug 33.0 °C 32 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
13 Aug 33.5 °C 31 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
14 Aug 31.6 °C 39 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
15 Aug after 33.1 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
16 Aug after 33.9 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
17 Aug after 34.0 °C 23 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
18 Aug after 34.0 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
19 Aug after 34.6 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
20 Aug after 34.1 °C 25 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
21 Aug after 32.4 °C 24 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
22 Aug after 32.7 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
23 Aug after 32.6 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
24 Aug after 34.1 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 37.9, a minimum humidity of 29% and 39 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 41.

FWI at the start 37.9
Minimum humidity 29 %
Days without rain 39
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

São Félix do Xingu fire, July 2020
3,938 ha 21 days FWI 38.9 Min. humidity 30 % 237 km away, in 2020

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

What happened to them

17 days
median duration
4,495 ha
median area
20 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 20 of 41 had it)

It was 3.1 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 21 days, against 17 days.

Only 7 of its 41 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 21 of 41, 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 2.2 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

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
41km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 14 Aug, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 20 of 41, with a median of 2.2 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 · 18 Jul 2022
After · 21 Aug 2022

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 · 371Every 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 Ourilândia do Norte fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 25 July 2022 to 14 August 2022 (21 days). The perimeter dates it from 27 July 2022 to 12 August 2022.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 13,796 hectares (138.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ourilândia do Norte (14,065 ha, 1.0 %); São Félix do Xingu (30 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.4 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 54, class Extreme.
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: 41. Their median duration was 17 days and their median area 4,495 ha; 20 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 7 of its 41 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 21 of 41, 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 2.2 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. Last day with fire: 12 August 2022 → 14 August 2022.
  2. Start date: 27 July 2022 → 25 July 2022.

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; 3 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 27 July 2022 to 12 August 2022. 371 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.