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BR · Brazil · –

Rondolândia fire, July 2021 Rondolândia

Out · last detection 6 Aug 2021, 18:05 UTC

The fire started on 23 July 2021 in Rondolândia, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,584 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 740th largest in Mato Grosso since 2016 (of 1872 with a page). Number 266 in Brazil in 2021, of 814.

Burnt area
6,584ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
16days
23 Jul 2021 – 7 Aug 2021
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
23 Jul
2021
Heat detections
296
in a single hotspot: 188 MW
Danger at start
42
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
256MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 23 Jul7 Aug
6 Aug 2021

How it evolved, day by day

23 Jul 2021 · 14 MW · 3 25 Jul 2021 · 40 MW · 4 26 Jul 2021 · 19 MW · 2 27 Jul 2021 · 1 MW · 1 28 Jul 2021 · 1,557 MW · 83 29 Jul 2021 · 774 MW · 141 30 Jul 2021 · 341 MW · 23 31 Jul 2021 · 23 MW · 5 1 Aug 2021 · 80 MW · 11 2 Aug 2021 · 186 MW · 18 3 Aug 2021 · 6 MW · 4 6 Aug 2021 · 30 MW · 1
23 Jul 28 Jul 2 Aug

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
42km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 24 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

98% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5,960 ha in 2016, 4,218 ha in 2017, 4,359 ha in 2018, 6,219 ha in 2019, 5,172 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 6,431 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 4.2% of the area of London (66 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. Rondolândia 3,505 inhabitants where it started
    6,636 ha reached on 23 Jul
    0.5 %

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 area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable 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)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
23 Jul 36.1 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
24 Jul 35.9 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
25 Jul 35.9 °C 24 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Jul 35.9 °C 25 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Jul 35.6 °C 27 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
28 Jul 32.5 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
29 Jul 28.3 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
30 Jul 30.4 °C 22 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 Jul 33.0 °C 24 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
1 Aug 35.4 °C 21 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
2 Aug 35.0 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
3 Aug 35.2 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
4 Aug 35.3 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
5 Aug 36.1 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
6 Aug 36.4 °C 18 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
7 Aug 35.7 °C 19 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
8 Aug after 35.4 °C 23 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
9 Aug after 36.3 °C 25 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
10 Aug after 37.2 °C 20 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
11 Aug after 36.8 °C 20 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
12 Aug after 35.6 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
13 Aug after 36.1 °C 20 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Aug after 34.3 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
15 Aug after 35.3 °C 25 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
16 Aug after 35.9 °C 29 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
17 Aug after 36.0 °C 25 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 38

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 41.8, a minimum humidity of 21% and 24 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 17.

FWI at the start 41.8
Minimum humidity 21 %
Days without rain 24
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Rondolândia fire, August 2019
3,153 ha 21 days FWI 40.1 Min. humidity 19 % 71 km away, in 2019

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.2 mm on 7 Sept.

What happened to them

15 days
median duration
4,291 ha
median area
6 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.5 mm
rain at the end (median; 14 of 17 had it)

It was 1.5 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 16 days, against 15 days.

Only 3 of its 17 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 3 of 17, 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 2.5 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 7 Aug, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 14 of 17, with a median of 2.5 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 · 16 Jul 2021
After · 14 Aug 2021

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 · 296Every 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 Rondolândia fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 23 July 2021 to 7 August 2021 (16 days). The perimeter dates it from 27 July 2021 to 3 August 2021.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 6,584 hectares (65.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Rondolândia (6,636 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.4 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, class Very 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.
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: 17. Their median duration was 15 days and their median area 4,291 ha; 6 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 3 of its 17 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 3 of 17, 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 2.5 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: 3 August 2021 → 7 August 2021.
  2. Start date: 27 July 2021 → 23 July 2021.

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 27 July 2021 to 3 August 2021. 296 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.