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Benjamín Aceval fire, 16 September 2017 Benjamín Aceval, General Jose Maria Bruguez

Out · last detection 21 Sept 2017, 18:33 UTC

The fire started on 16 September 2017 in Benjamín Aceval, Paraguay, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,691 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 298th largest in PRESIDENTE HAYES since 2016 (of 738 with a page). Number 56 in Paraguay in 2017, of 261.

Burnt area
2,691ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
6days
16 Sept 2017 – 21 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
16 Sept
2017
Heat detections
99
in a single hotspot: 59 MW
Danger at start
17
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
1.5GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

21 Sept 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Sept21 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

161718192021

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
49km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.2 mm on 23 Sept.

This area had burned before

5% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 134 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Benjamín Aceval where it started
    2,677 ha reached on 13 Sept
    0.2 %
  2. General Jose Maria Bruguez
    30 ha reached on 16 Sept
    0.0 %

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)
12 Sept 26.5 °C 49 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
13 Sept 31.4 °C 45 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
14 Sept 26.2 °C 53 % 41 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 20
15 Sept 19.1 °C 76 % 40 km/h 26.2 mm Very low 0
16 Sept 21.2 °C 55 % 43 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 4
17 Sept 24.8 °C 44 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
18 Sept 27.2 °C 45 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
19 Sept 35.4 °C 38 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
20 Sept 37.5 °C 24 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
21 Sept 32.8 °C 33 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
22 Sept after 21.2 °C 68 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
23 Sept after 20.5 °C 75 % 32 km/h 2.2 mm Very low 4

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 Sept 2017
After · 28 Sept 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 · 99Every 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 Paraguay ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Benjamín Aceval fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 September 2017 and 21 September 2017: 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 2,691 hectares (26.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Benjamín Aceval (2,677 ha, 0.2 %); General Jose Maria Bruguez (30 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.5 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, class High.
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
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 132 · 911.

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.