Valença do Piauí fire, August 2016 Valença do Piauí
The fire started on 20 August 2016 in Valença do Piauí, Brazil, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,003 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 510th largest in Piaui since 2016 (of 804 with a page). Number 401 in Brazil in 2016, of 649.
- Burnt area
- 4,003ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 20 Aug 2016 – 26 Aug 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 20 Aug
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 144
- in a single hotspot: 65 MW
- Danger at start
- 48
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 225MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
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
-
4,029 ha reached on 20 Aug3.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Aug | 36.1 °C | 28 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 21 Aug | 36.9 °C | 28 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 22 Aug | 39.3 °C | 18 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 23 Aug | 37.5 °C | 21 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 24 Aug | 36.1 °C | 20 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 25 Aug | 36.0 °C | 22 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 26 Aug | 35.8 °C | 26 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 27 Aug after | 36.6 °C | 25 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 28 Aug after | 36.2 °C | 26 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 29 Aug after | 36.1 °C | 24 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 30 Aug after | 37.3 °C | 22 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 31 Aug after | 37.5 °C | 25 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 1 Sept after | 36.9 °C | 27 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 2 Sept after | 36.1 °C | 21 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 3 Sept after | 36.1 °C | 20 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 4 Sept after | 36.0 °C | 21 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 5 Sept after | 36.7 °C | 24 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 6 Sept after | 36.8 °C | 24 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 7 Sept after | 37.8 °C | 23 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 8 Sept after | 38.5 °C | 22 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 9 Sept after | 37.2 °C | 22 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 10 Sept after | 36.8 °C | 22 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 11 Sept after | 37.6 °C | 23 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 12 Sept after | 37.4 °C | 30 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · 144Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 11,522 haAroazesSeptember 2026 · 31 days · 15 km away
- 12,070 haLagoa do Sítio19 August 2021 · 25 days · 18 km away
- 6,012 haValença do PiauíSeptember 2023 · 11 days · 18 km away
- 5,157 haValença do PiauíAugust 2019 · 17 days · 20 km away
- 34,978 haPimenteirasOctober 2025 · 38 days · 29 km away
- 8,989 haLagoa do Sítio31 August 2021 · 14 days · 34 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Valença do Piauí fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 August 2016 and 26 August 2016: 7 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 4,003 hectares (40.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Valença do Piauí (4,029 ha, 3.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.3 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 56, 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.
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
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.