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Querência fire, August 2016 Querência, Gaúcha do Norte

Out · last detection 2 Sept 2016, 16:56 UTC

The fire started on 24 August 2016 in Querência, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,668 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 1584th largest in Mato Grosso since 2016 (of 1996 with a page). Number 466 in Brazil in 2016, of 649.

The power measured by the satellite is low (28.9 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
3,668ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
10days
24 Aug 2016 – 2 Sept 2016
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
24 Aug
2016
Heat detections
173
in a single hotspot: 29 MW
Danger at start
34
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.3GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

2 Sept 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 24 Aug2 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

242526272829303112

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
44km/h · peak gust
27%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Querência 26,769 inhabitants where it started
    3,625 ha reached on 24 Aug
    0.2 %
  2. Gaúcha do Norte 8,642 inhabitants
    68 ha reached on 26 Aug
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

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)
24 Aug 36.4 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
25 Aug 34.3 °C 36 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
26 Aug 35.7 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Aug 36.0 °C 28 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
28 Aug 36.7 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
29 Aug 32.9 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
30 Aug 34.0 °C 38 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
31 Aug 30.6 °C 55 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
1 Sept 35.5 °C 36 % 30 km/h 0.9 mm High 27
2 Sept 35.6 °C 33 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
3 Sept after 35.0 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
4 Sept after 32.6 °C 35 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
5 Sept after 36.4 °C 27 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
6 Sept after 34.4 °C 36 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
7 Sept after 36.2 °C 30 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
8 Sept after 36.7 °C 29 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
9 Sept after 37.8 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
10 Sept after 37.0 °C 23 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 42
11 Sept after 37.4 °C 22 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
12 Sept after 37.8 °C 20 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
13 Sept after 36.5 °C 34 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
14 Sept after 36.3 °C 37 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
15 Sept after 36.0 °C 39 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
16 Sept after 37.2 °C 32 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
17 Sept after 36.9 °C 34 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
18 Sept after 34.8 °C 44 % 28 km/h 0.4 mm High 32

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 17 Aug 2016
After · 9 Sept 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 · 173Every 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 Querência fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 24 August 2016 and 2 September 2016: 10 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,668 hectares (36.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Querência (3,625 ha, 0.2 %); Gaúcha do Norte (68 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.7 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class High.
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.

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

Satellite cross-check

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.

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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.

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.