Fire near Bahia (BR)

11.00°S, 45.40°W · first detected on 4 October at 17:52

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 4 October at 17:52 to 14 October at 19:09, that is 10 days, through 1,727 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 16,797 ha.

Detected extent: 16,797 ha
Cumulative power: 34,041 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 548 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 1,727
Estimated emissions: 144.9 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 5 October 2026 to 14 October 2026. An order-of-magnitude estimate from GFAS (ECMWF, Copernicus CAMS): it also counts neighbouring fires in the same cell. Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information (2026).

These four figures cover the polar orbits alone, the ones that measure an area. The pass table below also counts geostationary detections, more frequent but too coarse for geometry, and its power column sums a whole pass where the peak above is that of a single pixel.

“Detected extent” is not “burned area”: it is the union of the ground footprints of the satellite pixels, and a pixel counts in full (375 m for VIIRS, 1 km for MODIS) even when only a forest edge is burning. Compared with press figures it is in practice one and a half to three times the area reported. Detections taken at the edge of the scan swath, too coarse to measure anything at all, are excluded. These figures come from thermal detection and are not an official assessment: only the emergency services and the competent authorities are authoritative.

Replay how the fire spread

The map is framed on this fire's footprint and loads only its detections. The timeline below covers the period in which satellites saw it, from the first to the last detection, with twelve hours before and twenty-four after; the ticks on the bar mark the emergency services' announcements that fall within it. The cursor opens on the most powerful pass, and playback replays the whole fire in about thirty seconds. “1 h” shows what is burning within an hour of the chosen moment : the map then follows the power curve below and empties when it falls. “24 h” stacks twenty-four hours : a fire stays visible between two satellite passes, which come two to four times a day. Both are true, but they say different things.

Before, after: the burn scar seen from space

Sentinel-2 satellite image of the same area near Bahia (BR) after the fire, on 17 October 2026

Sentinel-2 satellite image of the area near Bahia (BR) before the fire, on 30 September 2026

Before · 30 September 2026After · 17 October 2026

Sentinel-2, 10 m resolution. The dates are those of the least cloudy passes available: “after” is not the day after the fire went out, it is the first clear sky that followed. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel-2 data (2026).

How the radiative power evolved

One point per satellite pass: the sum of the fire radiative power measured over the fire. This is the curve that says whether the fire eased off or picked up again, which no cumulative figure shows. The window covers 13 days; beyond that, clustering would merge two successive fires in the same place.

Fire dynamics

Loading history…

Satellite passes in detail

Pass	Power summed over the pass	Detections	Sensor
14 October at 19:09	55 MW	10	N21
14 October at 18:26	272 MW	9	N20
14 October at 18:05	123 MW	14	N
14 October at 13:19	27 MW	2	Terra
14 October at 08:52	14 MW	2	Aqua
14 October at 07:12	17 MW	12	N
14 October at 06:34	38 MW	18	N21
14 October at 05:49	34 MW	20	N20
13 October at 19:28	221 MW	9	N21
13 October at 18:43	654 MW	28	N20
13 October at 18:24	567 MW	29	N
13 October at 17:48	481 MW	27	N21
13 October at 01:54	122 MW	8	Terra
12 October at 21:28	58 MW	1	Aqua
12 October at 19:02	462 MW	33	N20
12 October at 18:05	879 MW	44	N21
12 October at 13:40	282 MW	9	Terra
12 October at 07:12	4 MW	1	N21
12 October at 06:27	44 MW	27	N20
12 October at 06:08	68 MW	28	N
12 October at 05:32	167 MW	19	N21
12 October at 01:14	514 MW	8	Terra
11 October at 19:22	589 MW	46	N20
11 October at 19:02	684 MW	38	N
11 October at 18:26	1,062 MW	55	N21
11 October at 13:02	25 MW	1	Terra
11 October at 08:37	179 MW	8	Aqua
11 October at 06:46	591 MW	66	N20
11 October at 06:27	1,120 MW	139	N
11 October at 05:49	279 MW	23	N21
11 October at 02:13	189 MW	4	Terra
10 October at 19:20	701 MW	49	N
10 October at 18:43	2,214 MW	34	N21
10 October at 17:58	464 MW	46	N20
10 October at 14:00	1,851 MW	8	Terra
10 October at 06:46	42 MW	21	N
10 October at 06:10	104 MW	27	N21
10 October at 01:35	129 MW	6	Terra
9 October at 21:13	608 MW	7	Aqua
9 October at 19:39	1,127 MW	49	N
9 October at 19:02	4,186 MW	45	N21
9 October at 18:18	1,048 MW	39	N20
9 October at 18:01	805 MW	29	N
9 October at 13:21	38 MW	3	Terra
9 October at 08:59	14 MW	1	Aqua
9 October at 07:04	177 MW	22	N
9 October at 06:27	173 MW	35	N21
9 October at 05:45	291 MW	23	N20
8 October at 20:34	473 MW	6	Aqua
8 October at 19:22	371 MW	27	N21
8 October at 18:37	634 MW	27	N20
8 October at 18:18	379 MW	21	N
8 October at 17:41	410 MW	20	N21
8 October at 06:46	10 MW	7	N21
8 October at 06:02	12 MW	8	N20
8 October at 05:45	11 MW	5	N
8 October at 01:54	50 MW	4	Terra
7 October at 21:34	257 MW	2	Aqua
7 October at 18:56	1,340 MW	41	N20
7 October at 18:37	604 MW	38	N
7 October at 18:01	1,477 MW	49	N21
7 October at 13:42	41 MW	2	Terra
7 October at 07:06	57 MW	14	N21
7 October at 06:21	128 MW	27	N20
7 October at 06:02	75 MW	21	N
7 October at 05:25	51 MW	13	N21
7 October at 01:16	170 MW	5	Terra
6 October at 20:58	655 MW	7	Aqua
6 October at 19:15	234 MW	17	N20
6 October at 18:56	600 MW	18	N
6 October at 18:20	147 MW	8	N21
6 October at 06:40	5 MW	6	N20
6 October at 06:19	12 MW	10	N
6 October at 05:45	11 MW	6	N21
6 October at 02:16	37 MW	2	Terra
5 October at 19:13	309 MW	22	N
5 October at 18:37	605 MW	27	N21
5 October at 17:54	615 MW	31	N20
5 October at 06:59	14 MW	12	N20
5 October at 06:40	21 MW	17	N
5 October at 06:02	20 MW	9	N21
5 October at 01:37	190 MW	6	Terra
4 October at 21:19	139 MW	3	Aqua
4 October at 18:11	56 MW	4	N20
4 October at 17:52	35 MW	3	N

8 other fires near Bahia (BR)

Separate fires, apart in time or in space, not pieces of this one. A single municipality can have several over one summer, and a forest massif often covers more than a hundred square kilometres.

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