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Ulianópolis fire, September 2017 Ulianópolis

Out · last detection 25 Sept 2017, 17:23 UTC

The fire started on 15 September 2017 in Ulianópolis, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,323 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 935th largest in Pará since 2016 (of 1096 with a page). Number 851 in Brazil in 2017, of 994.

Burnt area
3,323ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
10days
15 Sept 2017 – 24 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
15 Sept
2017
Heat detections
147
in a single hotspot: 155 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Energy released
2.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Sept 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Sept24 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

1516171819202122232425

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
50km/h · peak gust
27%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months 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. Ulianópolis 37,972 inhabitants where it started
    3,346 ha reached on 15 Sept
    0.6 %

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)
15 Sept 35.2 °C 40 % 44 km/h 0.1 mm High 32
16 Sept 36.8 °C 27 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
17 Sept 36.4 °C 30 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
18 Sept 35.7 °C 36 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
19 Sept 36.4 °C 32 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
20 Sept 35.6 °C 40 % 39 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
21 Sept 36.2 °C 37 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
22 Sept 36.0 °C 39 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Sept 35.2 °C 41 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
24 Sept 35.0 °C 39 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
25 Sept after 34.9 °C 40 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
26 Sept after 36.3 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
27 Sept after 35.5 °C 41 % 48 km/h 0.7 mm High 30
28 Sept after 36.3 °C 42 % 47 km/h 0.2 mm High 28
29 Sept after 36.7 °C 37 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
30 Sept after 35.6 °C 38 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
1 Oct after 36.5 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
2 Oct after 36.2 °C 37 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
3 Oct after 36.7 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Oct after 36.6 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.3 mm High 36
5 Oct after 36.6 °C 38 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
6 Oct after 37.2 °C 38 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
7 Oct after 35.7 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
8 Oct after 36.0 °C 39 % 36 km/h 0.3 mm High 36

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Sept 2017
After · 1 Oct 2017

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 · 147Every 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 Ulianópolis fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 September 2017 and 24 September 2017: 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 3,323 hectares (33.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Ulianópolis (3,346 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, 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.

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.

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.

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.