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Santa Rita do Tocantins fire, August 2019 Lagoa da Confusão, Dueré, Santa Rita do Tocantins

Out · last detection 1 Oct 2019, 17:21 UTC

The fire started on 14 August 2019 in Santa Rita do Tocantins, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 49 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 60,312 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 11th largest in Tocantins since 2016 (of 1036 with a page). Number 7 in Brazil in 2019, of 973.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Lagoa da Confusão · 2024Lagoa da Confusão · 2017Lagoa da Confusão · 2016Santa Rita do Tocantins · 2017

Burnt area
60,312ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
49days
14 Aug 2019 – 1 Oct 2019
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
14 Aug
2019
Heat detections
3,573
in a single hotspot: 294 MW
Danger at start
49
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
1.2GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Aug1 Oct
1 Oct 2019

How it evolved, day by day

14 Aug 2019 · 23 MW · 5 15 Aug 2019 · 32 MW · 4 17 Aug 2019 · 45 MW · 3 18 Aug 2019 · 3 MW · 1 19 Aug 2019 · 91 MW · 14 20 Aug 2019 · 171 MW · 11 21 Aug 2019 · 131 MW · 22 22 Aug 2019 · 113 MW · 14 23 Aug 2019 · 142 MW · 15 24 Aug 2019 · 119 MW · 29 25 Aug 2019 · 509 MW · 59 26 Aug 2019 · 8,610 MW · 172 27 Aug 2019 · 4,232 MW · 335 28 Aug 2019 · 1,452 MW · 107 29 Aug 2019 · 1,516 MW · 114 30 Aug 2019 · 1,458 MW · 82 31 Aug 2019 · 2,359 MW · 142 1 Sept 2019 · 2,390 MW · 151 2 Sept 2019 · 1,902 MW · 88 3 Sept 2019 · 1,726 MW · 156 4 Sept 2019 · 1,859 MW · 205 5 Sept 2019 · 2,444 MW · 178 6 Sept 2019 · 2,179 MW · 131 7 Sept 2019 · 6,922 MW · 278 8 Sept 2019 · 1,418 MW · 133 9 Sept 2019 · 1,713 MW · 121 10 Sept 2019 · 480 MW · 59 11 Sept 2019 · 556 MW · 36 12 Sept 2019 · 928 MW · 58 13 Sept 2019 · 323 MW · 32 14 Sept 2019 · 1,541 MW · 95 15 Sept 2019 · 2,444 MW · 180 16 Sept 2019 · 2,362 MW · 167 17 Sept 2019 · 948 MW · 105 18 Sept 2019 · 423 MW · 37 19 Sept 2019 · 356 MW · 33 20 Sept 2019 · 82 MW · 25 21 Sept 2019 · 243 MW · 35 22 Sept 2019 · 209 MW · 19 23 Sept 2019 · 188 MW · 21 24 Sept 2019 · 441 MW · 29 25 Sept 2019 · 67 MW · 23 26 Sept 2019 · 835 MW · 27 27 Sept 2019 · 189 MW · 16 28 Sept 2019 · 2 MW · 2 1 Oct 2019 · 26 MW · 4
14 Aug 26 Aug 4 Sept 14 Sept 24 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
53km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.7 mm on 2 Oct.

This area had burned before

79% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 42,981 ha in 2016, 23,589 ha in 2017, 2,980 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 47,537 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 38% of the area of London (603 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. Lagoa da Confusão 15,288 inhabitants
    39,943 ha reached on 18 Aug
    3.8 %
  2. Dueré 4,248 inhabitants
    15,763 ha reached on 14 Aug
    4.6 %
  3. Santa Rita do Tocantins 2,219 inhabitants where it started
    6,418 ha reached on 14 Aug
    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 area1.2 ha
Residents≈ 80

Inside the perimeter there were about 1.2 hectares of built-up land and about 80 residents (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 60 days without rain: 55 % of the area in Brazil

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
14 Aug 38.2 °C 16 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
15 Aug 36.7 °C 24 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
16 Aug 36.0 °C 24 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
17 Aug 36.0 °C 23 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
18 Aug 37.0 °C 21 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
19 Aug 38.4 °C 15 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Aug 39.9 °C 11 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
21 Aug 40.0 °C 13 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
22 Aug 38.2 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
23 Aug 36.6 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.8 mm High 36
24 Aug 36.3 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
25 Aug 37.9 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
26 Aug 38.0 °C 18 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
27 Aug 36.7 °C 20 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
28 Aug 37.7 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
29 Aug 38.5 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
30 Aug 38.4 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
31 Aug 39.1 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Sept 39.9 °C 15 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 Sept 40.5 °C 14 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
3 Sept 40.7 °C 13 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
4 Sept 41.0 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
5 Sept 40.1 °C 18 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
6 Sept 39.3 °C 19 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
7 Sept 38.5 °C 16 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
8 Sept 38.5 °C 18 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
9 Sept 39.0 °C 20 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
10 Sept 39.6 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
11 Sept 40.0 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
12 Sept 40.0 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
13 Sept 41.3 °C 13 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
14 Sept 39.8 °C 17 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
15 Sept 39.6 °C 16 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
16 Sept 39.8 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
17 Sept 39.5 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
18 Sept 39.6 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
19 Sept 38.8 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
20 Sept 39.5 °C 26 % 32 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 45
21 Sept 38.4 °C 32 % 35 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 45
22 Sept 39.2 °C 28 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
23 Sept 38.1 °C 32 % 27 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 38
24 Sept 40.2 °C 18 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
25 Sept 37.3 °C 28 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
26 Sept 35.4 °C 28 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
27 Sept 37.3 °C 31 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Sept 37.9 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 39
29 Sept 30.2 °C 61 % 30 km/h 14.7 mm Very low 4
30 Sept 33.7 °C 44 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
1 Oct 32.8 °C 55 % 34 km/h 2.7 mm Low 7
2 Oct after 34.1 °C 50 % 30 km/h 4.7 mm Very low 4

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 48.7, a minimum humidity of 16% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 30.

FWI at the start 48.7
Minimum humidity 16 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Lagoa da Confusão fire, August 2024
116,461 ha 47 days FWI 49.7 Min. humidity 16 % 32 km away, in 2024

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 5.3 mm on 11 Oct.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

11 days
median duration
5,100 ha
median area
20 %
went past 10,000 ha
3.9 mm
rain at the end (median; 15 of 30 had it)

It was 11.8 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 49 days, against 11 days.

Only 2 of its 30 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 15 of 30, 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 3.9 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

4.7 mmfirst rain
2 Octthe day after it ended
53km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 1 Oct, and on 2 Oct 4.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 15 of 30, with a median of 3.9 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 · 7 Aug 2019
After · 8 Oct 2019

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 · 3,573Every 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 Santa Rita do Tocantins fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 14 August 2019 to 1 October 2019 (49 days). The perimeter dates it from 19 August 2019 to 28 September 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 60,312 hectares (603.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Lagoa da Confusão (39,943 ha, 3.8 %); Dueré (15,763 ha, 4.6 %); Santa Rita do Tocantins (6,418 ha, 2.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 41.3 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, 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: 30. Their median duration was 11 days and their median area 5,100 ha; 20 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 2 of its 30 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 15 of 30, 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 3.9 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 · 3 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Area: 61,753 → 60,312 ha.
  2. Last day with fire: 28 September 2019 → 1 October 2019.
  3. Start date: 19 August 2019 → 14 August 2019.

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; 3 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 19 August 2019 to 28 September 2019. 3,573 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.