Wildfire near Nova Santa Helena
True color
Fire (SWIR)
Infrared / SWIR (right): sees through smoke.
🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 red/brown = burned
🟠 orange = active fire
Imagery: Sentinel-2 (Copernicus). Drag to compare smoke vs. infrared.
Heat detections: NASA FIRMS (last 48h).
Satellites are picking up an intense heat signature from an active wildfire burning near Nova Santa Helena, Brazil, where 16 thermal detections have been recorded over the past 48 hours. The blaze, which started on August 17, 2026, has grown to encompass 300 hectares, equivalent to 741 acres. The fire is unfolding within the region's typical fire season, which traditionally spans from August to October.
This incident occurs within a broader national context where 3,040,278 hectares have burned across the country so far in 2026, a figure that remains 90 percent below the two-decade average for the same period.
In context
This wildfire burned in Brazil for 2 days. In total it burned about 400 ha (988 acres) — around 4.0 km².
Close to the tropics, fires tend to follow the dry season and are often linked to land-clearing rather than a single summer peak.
The bigger picture in Brazil
Across Brazil, roughly 4,909,573 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 84% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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