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Andalgalá fire, October 2017 Andalgalá

Out · last detection 25 Oct 2017, 17:55 UTC

The fire started on 18 October 2017 in Andalgalá, Argentina, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,587 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 9th largest in Catamarca since 2016 (of 44 with a page). Number 67 in Argentina in 2017, of 256.

Burnt area
3,587ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
18 Oct 2017 – 25 Oct 2017
Municipalities hit
1
departments
Started on
18 Oct
2017
Heat detections
116
in a single hotspot: 43 MW
Danger at start
30
High · FWI index
Energy released
824MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 Oct 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Oct25 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

18192021222325

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

27°high
45km/h · peak gust
8%lowest humidity

It had gone 4 days 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

  1. Andalgalá where it started
    3,600 ha reached on 18 Oct
    0.8 %

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)
18 Oct 27.2 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
19 Oct 17.3 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
20 Oct 24.7 °C 8 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
21 Oct 11.8 °C 31 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
22 Oct 15.3 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
23 Oct 20.6 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
24 Oct 22.4 °C 15 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
25 Oct 22.9 °C 20 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
26 Oct after 21.7 °C 24 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
27 Oct after 17.2 °C 34 % 39 km/h 0.1 mm High 22
28 Oct after 20.4 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
29 Oct after 24.3 °C 6 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
30 Oct after 20.5 °C 11 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
31 Oct after 17.8 °C 25 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
1 Nov after 22.9 °C 17 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
2 Nov after 25.8 °C 4 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Nov after 18.7 °C 31 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
4 Nov after 13.4 °C 48 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 11 Oct 2017
After · 1 Nov 2017

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 · 116Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Argentina ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Andalgalá fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 October 2017 and 25 October 2017: 8 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 3,587 hectares (35.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Andalgalá (3,600 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 27.2 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 30, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Argentina (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: 911 · 100

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 911 · 100.

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.