Wildfire near Santa Rita, Brazil (2026)

Wildfire near Santa Rita — Sentinel-2 true color

Wildfire near Santa Rita — Sentinel-2 SWIR (fuego)

True view Fire view

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True view (left): as the eye sees it.
Fire view (right): infrared (SWIR), sees through smoke and brings out the heat.

🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 brown = already burned
🟠 orange = fire right now

Drag to compare: normal photo on the left, heat brought out on the right.

Green: vegetationBrown: already burnedOrange: fire right nowSentinel-2 · Copernicus

The story so far

About 15 km southeast of Santa Rita.

A moderate heat signature is currently being picked up by satellites over an active wildfire burning near Santa Rita, Brazil. Having started on November 5, 2026, the fire has prompted 43 heat detections in the surrounding area over the last 48 hours, illustrating the extent to which the thermal activity has spread through the landscape.

While this incident continues to burn, the broader fire landscape in Brazil operates within a typical fire season that runs from August to October. Nationally, the country has recorded 11,765,894 hectares burned so far in 2026, a figure that remains 62% below the two-decade average for the same period.

Satellite monitoring currently places the fire at a rough estimate of 330 hectares, equivalent to 815 acres, derived directly from the concentration of thermal hotspots rather than official measurements.

In context

This wildfire has been burning in Brazil for 2 days. So far it has affected roughly 330 ha (815 acres) — about 3.3 km². That size is an estimate from satellite hotspots, not a measured area.

Close to the tropics, fires tend to follow the dry season and are often linked to land-clearing rather than a single summer peak.