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BR · Brazil · –

Pimenta Bueno fire, 25 August 2024 Pimenta Bueno, Vilhena

Out · last detection 10 Sept 2024, 05:24 UTC

The fire started on 25 August 2024 in Pimenta Bueno, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,212 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 108th largest in Rondônia since 2016 (of 288 with a page). Number 643 in Brazil in 2024, of 1301.

Burnt area
5,212ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
17days
25 Aug 2024 – 10 Sept 2024
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
25 Aug
2024
Heat detections
378
in a single hotspot: 126 MW
Danger at start
42
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
188MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 25 Aug10 Sept
10 Sept 2024

How it evolved, day by day

25 Aug 2024 · 82 MW · 15 26 Aug 2024 · 120 MW · 34 27 Aug 2024 · 37 MW · 8 28 Aug 2024 · 51 MW · 2 29 Aug 2024 · 92 MW · 16 30 Aug 2024 · 411 MW · 36 31 Aug 2024 · 387 MW · 56 1 Sept 2024 · 33 MW · 13 2 Sept 2024 · 739 MW · 41 3 Sept 2024 · 185 MW · 50 4 Sept 2024 · 95 MW · 28 5 Sept 2024 · 44 MW · 26 6 Sept 2024 · 890 MW · 37 7 Sept 2024 · 7 MW · 4 8 Sept 2024 · 5 MW · 2 9 Sept 2024 · 9 MW · 2 10 Sept 2024 · 15 MW · 8
25 Aug 29 Aug 2 Sept 6 Sept 10 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

37°high
41km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

21% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 258 ha in 2020, 885 ha in 2021.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 3.3% of the area of London (52 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. Pimenta Bueno 35,079 inhabitants where it started
    5,035 ha reached on 25 Aug
    0.8 %
  2. Vilhena 95,832 inhabitants
    203 ha reached on 25 Aug
    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 2025
Built-up area2.5 ha
Residents≈ 250

Inside the perimeter there were about 2.5 hectares of built-up land and about 250 residents (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)
25 Aug 29.6 °C 35 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Aug 30.2 °C 29 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
27 Aug 33.6 °C 26 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
28 Aug 36.1 °C 19 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
29 Aug 36.5 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
30 Aug 35.9 °C 22 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
31 Aug 35.9 °C 25 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Sept 36.2 °C 25 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
2 Sept 37.0 °C 18 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
3 Sept 36.3 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
4 Sept 35.3 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
5 Sept 36.7 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
6 Sept 36.5 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
7 Sept 36.0 °C 21 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
8 Sept 36.0 °C 25 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
9 Sept 37.1 °C 20 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
10 Sept 35.4 °C 30 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
11 Sept after 35.6 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
12 Sept after 35.6 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
13 Sept after 36.1 °C 31 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
14 Sept after 34.9 °C 34 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
15 Sept after 32.5 °C 46 % 26 km/h 0.8 mm High 28
16 Sept after 32.3 °C 44 % 28 km/h 0.2 mm High 26
17 Sept after 36.0 °C 31 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
18 Sept after 35.1 °C 36 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
19 Sept after 34.7 °C 38 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 39
20 Sept after 36.4 °C 31 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 42.2, a minimum humidity of 35% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 27.

FWI at the start 42.2
Minimum humidity 35 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Pimenta Bueno fire, August 2019
7,839 ha 11 days FWI 41.0 Min. humidity 29 % 72 km away, in 2019

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 2.1 mm on 19 Aug.

What happened to them

15 days
median duration
4,609 ha
median area
0 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.1 mm
rain at the end (median; 20 of 27 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (5,212 ha against a median of 4,609 ha) and lasted 17 days, against 15 days.

In 7 of 27, 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 2.1 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 10 Sept, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 20 of 27, with a median of 2.1 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 Aug 2024
After · 17 Sept 2024

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 8 September 2024 the air beside the fire reached 249 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 198: 13 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak249 µg/m³
Days over the guideline27 days
PM10356 µg/m³
Optical depth4.23
18 Aug24 Aug30 Aug5 Sept11 Sept
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 · 378Every 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 Pimenta Bueno fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 25 August 2024 to 10 September 2024 (17 days). The perimeter dates it from 25 August 2024 to 7 September 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,212 hectares (52.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Pimenta Bueno (5,035 ha, 0.8 %); Vilhena (203 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.1 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % 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: 27. Their median duration was 15 days and their median area 4,609 ha; 0 % went past 10,000 ha. In 7 of 27, 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 2.1 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: 7 September 2024 → 10 September 2024.

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 25 August 2024 to 7 September 2024. 378 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 2025, 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.