Belen fire, August 2021 Horqueta, San Pedro Del Ykuamandiyu, Belen
The fire started on 16 August 2021 in Belen, Paraguay, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 7,671 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 18th largest in Concepción since 2016 (of 195 with a page). Number 26 in Paraguay in 2021, of 251.
- Burnt area
- 7,671ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 9days
- 16 Aug 2021 – 24 Aug 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- districts
- Started on
- 16 Aug
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 284
- in a single hotspot: 96 MW
- Danger at start
- 26
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.5GW
- 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 15 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.4 mm on 25 Aug.
This area had burned before
7% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 530 ha in 2017.
What happened to each town
-
4,104 ha reached on 17 Aug1.9 %
-
3,141 ha reached on 17 Aug1.0 %
-
Belen where it started460 ha reached on 16 Aug2.3 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Aug | 34.2 °C | 29 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 17 Aug | 37.1 °C | 25 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 18 Aug | 38.9 °C | 16 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 19 Aug | 38.2 °C | 18 % | 59 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 20 Aug | 37.2 °C | 20 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 21 Aug | 35.7 °C | 22 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 22 Aug | 37.1 °C | 20 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 23 Aug | 37.0 °C | 26 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 24 Aug | 35.7 °C | 24 % | 65 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 50 |
| 25 Aug after | 24.6 °C | 59 % | 46 km/h | 5.4 mm | Very low 5 |
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.
Detections table · 284Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Belen fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 August 2021 and 24 August 2021: 9 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 7,671 hectares (76.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Horqueta (4,104 ha, 1.9 %); San Pedro Del Ykuamandiyu (3,141 ha, 1.0 %); Belen (460 ha, 2.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.9 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 65 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 54, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Paraguay (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: 132 · 911
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 ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). 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.