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Pontes e Lacerda fire, 13 September 2020 Pontes e Lacerda

Out · last detection 3 Oct 2020, 17:20 UTC

The fire started on 13 September 2020 in Pontes e Lacerda, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 21 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 17,174 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 212th largest in Mato Grosso since 2016 (of 1872 with a page). Number 91 in Brazil in 2020, of 957.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Roboré · 2021San José · 2024Pontes e Lacerda · 2019Pontes e Lacerda · 2023

Burnt area
17,174ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
21days
13 Sept 2020 – 3 Oct 2020
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
13 Sept
2020
Heat detections
694
in a single hotspot: 270 MW
Danger at start
51
Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
316MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 Sept3 Oct
3 Oct 2020

How it evolved, day by day

13 Sept 2020 · 1,062 MW · 24 14 Sept 2020 · 1,708 MW · 197 15 Sept 2020 · 426 MW · 113 16 Sept 2020 · 1,199 MW · 166 17 Sept 2020 · 433 MW · 42 19 Sept 2020 · 83 MW · 6 21 Sept 2020 · 50 MW · 7 22 Sept 2020 · 61 MW · 17 23 Sept 2020 · 16 MW · 3 24 Sept 2020 · 16 MW · 4 25 Sept 2020 · 10 MW · 4 26 Sept 2020 · 473 MW · 36 27 Sept 2020 · 114 MW · 26 28 Sept 2020 · 33 MW · 1 29 Sept 2020 · 50 MW · 5 30 Sept 2020 · 47 MW · 16 1 Oct 2020 · 184 MW · 15 2 Oct 2020 · 19 MW · 11 3 Oct 2020 · 12 MW · 1
14 Sept 17 Sept 23 Sept 27 Sept 1 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

39°high
50km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

It had gone 23 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

5% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 995 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 850 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 11% of the area of London (172 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. Pontes e Lacerda where it started
    17,299 ha reached on 13 Sept
    2.0 %

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 area0.22 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.22 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 Extreme FWI: 46 % of the area in Brazil

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
13 Sept 37.8 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
14 Sept 39.2 °C 20 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
15 Sept 33.7 °C 33 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
16 Sept 37.7 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
17 Sept 36.6 °C 26 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
18 Sept 37.0 °C 28 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
19 Sept 36.9 °C 30 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
20 Sept 31.6 °C 42 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
21 Sept 32.1 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
22 Sept 31.9 °C 35 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
23 Sept 36.6 °C 32 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
24 Sept 39.2 °C 26 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
25 Sept 39.4 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
26 Sept 37.6 °C 31 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
27 Sept 37.3 °C 32 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
28 Sept 34.4 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 39
29 Sept 38.2 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
30 Sept 39.2 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
1 Oct 38.9 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
2 Oct 38.1 °C 29 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
3 Oct 38.6 °C 28 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Oct after 39.4 °C 22 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Oct after 39.3 °C 29 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
6 Oct after 38.1 °C 31 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
7 Oct after 38.8 °C 30 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
8 Oct after 40.6 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
9 Oct after 40.1 °C 25 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
10 Oct after 39.6 °C 25 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
11 Oct after 35.9 °C 36 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
12 Oct after 35.2 °C 37 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
13 Oct after 38.5 °C 29 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 37

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 51.3, a minimum humidity of 20% and 23 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 32.

FWI at the start 51.3
Minimum humidity 20 %
Days without rain 23
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Roboré fire, August 2021
4,717 ha 4 days FWI 53.8 Min. humidity 23 % 248 km away, in 2021

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.5 mm on 26 Aug.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

13 days
median duration
4,690 ha
median area
19 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.1 mm
rain at the end (median; 25 of 32 had it)

It was 3.7 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 21 days, against 13 days.

Only 2 of its 32 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 7 of 32, 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
50km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 3 Oct, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 25 of 32, 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 · 6 Sept 2020
After · 10 Oct 2020

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 · 694Every 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 Pontes e Lacerda fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 13 September 2020 to 3 October 2020 (21 days). The perimeter dates it from 14 September 2020 to 28 September 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 17,174 hectares (171.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Pontes e Lacerda (17,299 ha, 2.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.4 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, 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: 32. Their median duration was 13 days and their median area 4,690 ha; 19 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 2 of its 32 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 7 of 32, 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 · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 28 September 2020 → 3 October 2020.
  2. Start date: 14 September 2020 → 13 September 2020.

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 14 September 2020 to 28 September 2020. 694 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.