Angol fire, January 2026 Angol, Ercilla, Los Sauces
The fire started on 18 January 2026 in Angol, Chile, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,957 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 18th largest in Región de La Araucanía since 2016 (of 159 with a page). Number 11 in Chile in 2026, of 63.
- Burnt area
- 3,957ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 18 Jan 2026 – 23 Jan 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- communes
- Started on
- 18 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 209
- in a single hotspot: 110 MW
- Danger at start
- 33
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.5GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 12.5 mm on 30 Jan.
This area had burned before
84% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 256 ha in 2018, 555 ha in 2019, 507 ha in 2020, 1,820 ha in 2021, 85 ha in 2022, 906 ha in 2023, 707 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,310 ha that had burned before.
- 1,820 ha Los Sauces fire, December 2021 13,252 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 906 ha Ercilla fire, February 2023 5,946 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 555 ha Angol fire, February 2019 1,192 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 507 ha Ercilla fire, January 2020 1,350 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 298 ha Angol fire, February 2025 1,716 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Angol where it started3,596 ha reached on 18 Jan3.0 %
-
253 ha reached on 20 Jan0.5 %
-
124 ha0.2 %
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 Jan | 32.5 °C | 20 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 19 Jan | 32.3 °C | 24 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 20 Jan | 30.9 °C | 28 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 21 Jan | 25.0 °C | 42 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 22 Jan | 26.1 °C | 37 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 23 Jan | 29.0 °C | 32 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 24 Jan after | 27.9 °C | 36 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 25 Jan after | 26.0 °C | 39 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 26 Jan after | 27.4 °C | 36 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 27 Jan after | 28.2 °C | 37 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 28 Jan after | 30.3 °C | 41 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 29 Jan after | 33.2 °C | 43 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 30 Jan after | 20.6 °C | 77 % | 34 km/h | 12.5 mm | Very low 0 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 20 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 71 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 36: 2.4 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 209Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 13,252 haLos SaucesDecember 2021 · 7 days · 4 km away
- 8,056 haTraiguén4 February 2023 · 14 days · 17 km away
- 10,542 haCollipulli1 February 2023 · 10 days · 22 km away
- 19,213 haMulchén3 February 2023 · 11 days · 33 km away
- 12,385 haTraiguénMarch 2025 · 6 days · 37 km away
- 11,526 haMulchén3 February 2023 · 10 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Angol fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 January 2026 and 23 January 2026: 6 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 3,957 hectares (39.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Angol (3,596 ha, 3.0 %); Ercilla (253 ha, 0.5 %); Los Sauces (124 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.5 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Chile (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: 130 (CONAF) · 132
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
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 ADM3 (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.