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BR · Brazil · –

Paranã fire, 26 August 2019 Paranã

Out · last detection 8 Sept 2019, 16:11 UTC

The fire started on 26 August 2019 in Paranã, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,865 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 257th largest in Tocantins since 2016 (of 1036 with a page). Number 237 in Brazil in 2019, of 973.

Burnt area
7,865ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
13days
26 Aug 2019 – 7 Sept 2019
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
26 Aug
2019
Heat detections
290
in a single hotspot: 361 MW
Danger at start
67
Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
364MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 26 Aug7 Sept
8 Sept 2019

How it evolved, day by day

26 Aug 2019 · 94 MW · 6 27 Aug 2019 · 184 MW · 38 28 Aug 2019 · 487 MW · 47 30 Aug 2019 · 332 MW · 35 31 Aug 2019 · 114 MW · 19 1 Sept 2019 · 567 MW · 40 2 Sept 2019 · 2,168 MW · 32 3 Sept 2019 · 24 MW · 7 4 Sept 2019 · 10 MW · 2 5 Sept 2019 · 61 MW · 8 6 Sept 2019 · 207 MW · 15 7 Sept 2019 · 421 MW · 36 8 Sept 2019 · 60 MW · 5
26 Aug 30 Aug 2 Sept 5 Sept 8 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
46km/h · peak gust
14%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

14% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 12 ha in 2017, 1,140 ha in 2018.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 5% of the area of London (79 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. Paranã 10,542 inhabitants where it started
    7,912 ha reached on 26 Aug
    0.7 %

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 area0.11 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.11 hectares of 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)

Started with 60 days without rain: 55 % of the area in Brazil

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
26 Aug 34.5 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
27 Aug 33.9 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
28 Aug 34.7 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
29 Aug 35.1 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
30 Aug 35.4 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
31 Aug 36.4 °C 23 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
1 Sept 37.0 °C 20 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
2 Sept 38.0 °C 14 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
3 Sept 38.4 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
4 Sept 38.0 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
5 Sept 37.8 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
6 Sept 36.8 °C 21 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 77
7 Sept 36.8 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 70
8 Sept after 36.2 °C 27 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
9 Sept after 36.5 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
10 Sept after 37.4 °C 21 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
11 Sept after 37.8 °C 21 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
12 Sept after 38.4 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
13 Sept after 39.6 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
14 Sept after 39.3 °C 13 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
15 Sept after 37.3 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 75
16 Sept after 37.1 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
17 Sept after 37.2 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 66.8, a minimum humidity of 20% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 30.

FWI at the start 66.8
Minimum humidity 20 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Cavalcante fire, August 2022
13,652 ha 26 days FWI 66.8 Min. humidity 21 % 82 km away, in 2022

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.3 mm on 20 Sept.

What happened to them

10 days
median duration
6,017 ha
median area
20 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.3 mm
rain at the end (median; 14 of 30 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (7,865 ha against a median of 6,017 ha) and lasted 13 days, against 10 days.

In 16 of 30, 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 2.3 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
46km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 7 Sept, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 14 of 30, with a median of 2.3 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 · 19 Aug 2019
After · 14 Sept 2019

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 · 290Every 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 Paranã fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 26 August 2019 to 7 September 2019 (13 days). The perimeter dates it from 26 August 2019 to 3 September 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 7,865 hectares (78.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Paranã (7,912 ha, 0.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.4 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 77, class Very 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: 30. Their median duration was 10 days and their median area 6,017 ha; 20 % went past 10,000 ha. In 16 of 30, 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 2.3 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 · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 3 September 2019 → 7 September 2019.

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.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 26 August 2019 to 3 September 2019. 290 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.