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BR · Brazil · –

Porto de Moz fire, 25 November 2016 Porto de Moz

Out · last detection 17 Dec 2016, 17:11 UTC

The fire started on 25 November 2016 in Porto de Moz, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 23 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 11,417 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 176th largest in Pará since 2016 (of 957 with a page). Number 76 in Brazil in 2016, of 648.

Burnt area
11,417ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
23days
25 Nov 2016 – 17 Dec 2016
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
25 Nov
2016
Heat detections
524
in a single hotspot: 68 MW
Danger at start
11
Low · FWI index
Average daily power
203MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 25 Nov17 Dec
17 Dec 2016

How it evolved, day by day

25 Nov 2016 · 68 MW · 3 26 Nov 2016 · 50 MW · 11 27 Nov 2016 · 8 MW · 2 28 Nov 2016 · 17 MW · 2 29 Nov 2016 · 35 MW · 4 30 Nov 2016 · 6 MW · 1 1 Dec 2016 · 15 MW · 2 2 Dec 2016 · 185 MW · 27 4 Dec 2016 · 50 MW · 12 5 Dec 2016 · 220 MW · 21 6 Dec 2016 · 717 MW · 59 7 Dec 2016 · 684 MW · 85 8 Dec 2016 · 679 MW · 74 9 Dec 2016 · 587 MW · 86 10 Dec 2016 · 409 MW · 69 11 Dec 2016 · 125 MW · 17 12 Dec 2016 · 72 MW · 10 13 Dec 2016 · 33 MW · 7 14 Dec 2016 · 81 MW · 10 15 Dec 2016 · 73 MW · 10 17 Dec 2016 · 142 MW · 12
25 Nov 30 Nov 6 Dec 11 Dec 17 Dec

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

The weather it burned in

35°high
42km/h · peak gust
47%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 24.9 mm on 18 Dec.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 7.2% of the area of London (114 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. Porto de Moz 40,597 inhabitants where it started
    11,490 ha reached on 25 Nov
    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 2015
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents≈ 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.02 hectares of built-up land and about 20 residents (GHSL 2015, 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 Nov 34.4 °C 56 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm Low 11
26 Nov 33.7 °C 57 % 37 km/h 0.3 mm Low 11
27 Nov 34.0 °C 54 % 37 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 11
28 Nov 34.4 °C 55 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
29 Nov 34.5 °C 54 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
30 Nov 34.0 °C 55 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
1 Dec 34.5 °C 53 % 42 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 14
2 Dec 34.1 °C 50 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
3 Dec 34.0 °C 56 % 33 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 15
4 Dec 33.8 °C 56 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
5 Dec 34.5 °C 47 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
6 Dec 34.2 °C 56 % 30 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 16
7 Dec 34.8 °C 49 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 17
8 Dec 34.4 °C 52 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
9 Dec 34.9 °C 50 % 39 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 19
10 Dec 34.0 °C 55 % 32 km/h 1.4 mm Low 11
11 Dec 33.6 °C 57 % 35 km/h 9.2 mm Very low 2
12 Dec 33.5 °C 58 % 30 km/h 4.5 mm Very low 2
13 Dec 34.6 °C 50 % 27 km/h 4.1 mm Very low 2
14 Dec 33.1 °C 63 % 24 km/h 13.1 mm Very low 0
15 Dec 30.8 °C 68 % 36 km/h 3.1 mm Very low 0
16 Dec 32.8 °C 53 % 33 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 2
17 Dec 32.1 °C 61 % 42 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 4
18 Dec after 28.9 °C 79 % 25 km/h 24.9 mm Very low 0

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 10.7, a minimum humidity of 56% and 2 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2017: 20.

FWI at the start 10.7
Minimum humidity 56 %
Days without rain 2
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Porto de Moz fire, November 2024
3,621 ha 13 days FWI 17.1 Min. humidity 56 % 20 km away, in 2024

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.1 mm on 3 Dec.

What happened to them

18 days
median duration
3,714 ha
median area
5 %
went past 10,000 ha
4.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 19 of 20 had it)

It was 3.1 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 23 days, against 18 days.

Only 1 of its 20 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 1 of 20, 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 4.2 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

24.9 mmfirst rain
18 Decthe day after it ended
42km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 17 Dec, and on 18 Dec 24.9 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 19 of 20, with a median of 4.2 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 2017.
  • 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 Nov 2016
After · 24 Dec 2016

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 · 524Every 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 Porto de Moz fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 25 November 2016 to 17 December 2016 (23 days). The perimeter dates it from 25 November 2016 to 11 December 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 11,417 hectares (114.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Porto de Moz (11,490 ha, 0.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.9 °C, humidity dropped to 47 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 19, class Moderate.
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 2017 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 20. Their median duration was 18 days and their median area 3,714 ha; 5 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 1 of its 20 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 1 of 20, 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 4.2 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 · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 11 December 2016 → 17 December 2016.

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 November 2016 to 11 December 2016. 524 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 2015, 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.