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Ribeirão Cascalheira fire, 13 September 2024 Ribeirão Cascalheira, Novo Santo Antônio

Out · last detection 27 Sept 2024, 16:22 UTC

The fire started on 13 September 2024 in Ribeirão Cascalheira, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,874 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 1380th largest in Mato Grosso since 2016 (of 1872 with a page). Number 949 in Brazil in 2024, of 1301.

Burnt area
3,874ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
13 Sept 2024 – 28 Sept 2024
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
13 Sept
2024
Heat detections
196
in a single hotspot: 111 MW
Danger at start
78
Very extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
199MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 Sept28 Sept
27 Sept 2024

How it evolved, day by day

13 Sept 2024 · 21 MW · 2 14 Sept 2024 · 3 MW · 1 17 Sept 2024 · 5 MW · 1 19 Sept 2024 · 58 MW · 7 20 Sept 2024 · 367 MW · 14 21 Sept 2024 · 171 MW · 21 22 Sept 2024 · 194 MW · 31 23 Sept 2024 · 686 MW · 34 24 Sept 2024 · 587 MW · 43 25 Sept 2024 · 278 MW · 36 26 Sept 2024 · 17 MW · 5 27 Sept 2024 · 3 MW · 1
13 Sept 19 Sept 23 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

41°high
42km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

72% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 973 ha in 2016, 992 ha in 2018, 1,553 ha in 2019, 1,798 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,775 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 2.4% of the area of London (39 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. Ribeirão Cascalheira 10,089 inhabitants where it started
    3,876 ha reached on 14 Sept
    0.3 %
  2. Novo Santo Antônio 2,015 inhabitants
    19 ha reached on 13 Sept
    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 area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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 Extreme FWI: 46 % of the area in Brazil 60 days without rain: 55 % of the area in Brazil

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
13 Sept 38.6 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 78
14 Sept 38.7 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
15 Sept 38.9 °C 18 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
16 Sept 39.6 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
17 Sept 40.0 °C 16 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
18 Sept 40.0 °C 18 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
19 Sept 38.6 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
20 Sept 39.3 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
21 Sept 40.1 °C 11 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
22 Sept 40.5 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
23 Sept 41.0 °C 15 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
24 Sept 39.4 °C 19 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
25 Sept 38.5 °C 24 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
26 Sept 38.8 °C 26 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
27 Sept 37.9 °C 27 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 Sept 39.1 °C 25 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
29 Sept after 39.8 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
30 Sept after 39.3 °C 19 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
1 Oct after 38.2 °C 24 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
2 Oct after 39.4 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
3 Oct after 40.4 °C 16 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
4 Oct after 40.3 °C 19 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
5 Oct after 40.4 °C 23 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
6 Oct after 40.0 °C 27 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
7 Oct after 37.6 °C 31 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
8 Oct after 38.0 °C 35 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 77.9, a minimum humidity of 18% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 21.

FWI at the start 77.9
Minimum humidity 18 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Novo Santo Antônio fire, September 2019
3,237 ha 2 days FWI 76.8 Min. humidity 16 % 13 km away, in 2019

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.

What happened to them

15 days
median duration
7,314 ha
median area
24 %
went past 10,000 ha
1.5 mm
rain at the end (median; 15 of 21 had it)

It stayed below its twins: 3,874 ha against a median of 7,314 ha. It lasted 16 days, against 15 days.

In 6 of 21, 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 1.5 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
42km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 28 Sept, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 15 of 21, with a median of 1.5 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 2024
After · 5 Oct 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 27 September 2024 the air beside the fire reached 96 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 53: 3.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak96 µg/m³
Days over the guideline10 days
PM10137 µg/m³
Optical depth1.51
17 Sept20 Sept23 Sept26 Sept29 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 · 196Every 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 Ribeirão Cascalheira fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 13 September 2024 to 28 September 2024 (16 days). The perimeter dates it from 19 September 2024 to 26 September 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,874 hectares (38.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ribeirão Cascalheira (3,876 ha, 0.3 %); Novo Santo Antônio (19 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 41.0 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 78, 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: 21. Their median duration was 15 days and their median area 7,314 ha; 24 % went past 10,000 ha. In 6 of 21, 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 1.5 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: 26 September 2024 → 28 September 2024.
  2. Start date: 19 September 2024 → 13 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 19 September 2024 to 26 September 2024. 196 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.