Wildfires play a key role in the ecology of savannas. The Brazilian savannas (Cerrado biome), where the extension of burned areas and amount of fires can be more numerous than in the Amazon, is frequently burned due to natural fires or land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes. Thus, we aimed to understand the occurrence and the dynamics of fires in the Cerrado using active fire, burned area, precipitation, vegetation condition, estimated using the Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), and LULC data derived from orbital sensors. Results show that the Cerrado was, respectively, the second and first Brazilian biome for the occurrence of hotspots and burned area, which are concentrated during the dry season (May to September), especially in September, when the annual deficit in precipitation and extreme vegetation conditions reached maximum indices. Higher densities of hotspots concentrated in the Northern of the biome, while 75 % of the occurrences were found in the natural remnants of the Cerrado. Totals of hotspots and burned area were higher in years of lower precipitation, such as 2007 and 2010. Spatial correlations showed that hotspots and burned area are better correlated with precipitation than vegetation condition, especially in the Central North and Northeast of the Cerrado.