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BR · Brazil · –

São Valério fire, September 2019 São Valério, Natividade, Paranã

Out · last detection 26 Sept 2019, 17:14 UTC

The fire started on 5 September 2019 in São Valério, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 23 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 45,789 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 19th largest in Tocantins since 2016 (of 1036 with a page). Number 14 in Brazil in 2019, of 973.

Burnt area
45,789ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
23days
5 Sept 2019 – 27 Sept 2019
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
5 Sept
2019
Heat detections
1,692
in a single hotspot: 275 MW
Danger at start
59
Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
1.1GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 5 Sept27 Sept
26 Sept 2019

How it evolved, day by day

5 Sept 2019 · 822 MW · 18 6 Sept 2019 · 344 MW · 17 7 Sept 2019 · 1,194 MW · 23 8 Sept 2019 · 457 MW · 50 9 Sept 2019 · 1,306 MW · 108 10 Sept 2019 · 1,248 MW · 129 11 Sept 2019 · 890 MW · 151 12 Sept 2019 · 2,344 MW · 160 13 Sept 2019 · 1,375 MW · 145 14 Sept 2019 · 5,025 MW · 231 15 Sept 2019 · 2,854 MW · 199 16 Sept 2019 · 1,356 MW · 216 17 Sept 2019 · 432 MW · 70 18 Sept 2019 · 346 MW · 26 19 Sept 2019 · 22 MW · 8 21 Sept 2019 · 18 MW · 5 22 Sept 2019 · 4 MW · 2 23 Sept 2019 · 26 MW · 4 24 Sept 2019 · 191 MW · 10 25 Sept 2019 · 850 MW · 64 26 Sept 2019 · 1,060 MW · 56
5 Sept 10 Sept 14 Sept 21 Sept 26 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

39°high
53km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 8.9 mm on 29 Sept.

This area had burned before

7% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 589 ha in 2016, 56 ha in 2017, 2,491 ha in 2018.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 29% of the area of London (458 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. São Valério 4,422 inhabitants where it started
    27,893 ha reached on 5 Sept
    11 %
  2. Natividade 8,754 inhabitants
    17,403 ha reached on 5 Sept
    5.3 %
  3. Paranã 10,542 inhabitants
    900 ha reached on 25 Sept
    0.1 %

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 area2.2 ha
Residents≈ 100

Inside the perimeter there were about 2.2 hectares of built-up land and about 100 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 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)
5 Sept 37.7 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
6 Sept 36.5 °C 21 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 78
7 Sept 36.2 °C 23 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 74
8 Sept 35.8 °C 25 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
9 Sept 36.3 °C 24 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
10 Sept 37.2 °C 21 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
11 Sept 37.2 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
12 Sept 38.1 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
13 Sept 39.0 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
14 Sept 39.4 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
15 Sept 37.3 °C 17 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 70
16 Sept 37.3 °C 22 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
17 Sept 37.5 °C 22 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
18 Sept 38.7 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
19 Sept 38.9 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
20 Sept 38.5 °C 23 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
21 Sept 38.3 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
22 Sept 37.1 °C 26 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
23 Sept 37.3 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
24 Sept 37.5 °C 23 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
25 Sept 36.1 °C 28 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
26 Sept 34.5 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
27 Sept 34.9 °C 37 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
28 Sept after 34.7 °C 41 % 24 km/h 0.4 mm High 32
29 Sept after 29.8 °C 59 % 28 km/h 8.9 mm Very low 5

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 59.1, a minimum humidity of 20% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 20.

FWI at the start 59.1
Minimum humidity 20 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Monte do Carmo fire, September 2016
7,739 ha 14 days FWI 59.1 Min. humidity 20 % 107 km away, in 2016

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 13.0 mm on 23 Sept.

What happened to them

11 days
median duration
6,111 ha
median area
20 %
went past 10,000 ha
2.6 mm
rain at the end (median; 14 of 20 had it)

It was 7.5 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 23 days, against 11 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 6 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 2.6 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

8.9 mmfirst rain
29 Sept2 days after it ended
53km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 27 Sept, and on 29 Sept 8.9 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 14 of 20, with a median of 2.6 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 · 29 Aug 2019
After · 4 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 · 1,692Every 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 São Valério fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 5 September 2019 and 27 September 2019: 23 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 45,789 hectares (457.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: São Valério (27,893 ha, 11 %); Natividade (17,403 ha, 5.3 %); Paranã (900 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.4 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 53 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: 20. Their median duration was 11 days and their median area 6,111 ha; 20 % 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 6 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 2.6 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 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

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; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 1,692 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.