Benjamín Aceval fire, 17 August 2021 Benjamín Aceval, Villa Hayes
The fire started on 17 August 2021 in Benjamín Aceval, Paraguay, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,218 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 206th largest in PRESIDENTE HAYES since 2016 (of 738 with a page). Number 91 in Paraguay in 2021, of 251.
- Burnt area
- 3,218ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 17 Aug 2021 – 21 Aug 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- districts
- Started on
- 17 Aug
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 115
- in a single hotspot: 313 MW
- Danger at start
- 29
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.0GW
- 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 19 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 8.3 mm on 25 Aug.
This area had burned before
88% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 986 ha in 2016, 2,233 ha in 2017, 86 ha in 2018, 1,189 ha in 2019, 340 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,838 ha that had burned before.
- 1,038 ha Benjamín Aceval fire, July 2017 2,883 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 337 ha Benjamín Aceval fire, July 2020 8,430 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 326 ha Benjamín Aceval fire, October 2016 4,057 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 319 ha Benjamín Aceval fire, October 2019 7,390 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Benjamín Aceval where it started3,042 ha reached on 16 Aug0.3 %
-
177 ha reached on 17 Aug0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Aug | 32.6 °C | 29 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 17 Aug | 37.5 °C | 22 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 18 Aug | 39.3 °C | 16 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 19 Aug | 39.0 °C | 15 % | 70 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 78 |
| 20 Aug | 37.1 °C | 20 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 21 Aug | 35.2 °C | 25 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 22 Aug after | 37.5 °C | 21 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 23 Aug after | 36.0 °C | 32 % | 57 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 24 Aug after | 27.2 °C | 48 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 25 Aug after | 20.2 °C | 68 % | 40 km/h | 8.3 mm | Very low 2 |
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 · 115Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 8,430 haBenjamín Aceval18 July 2020 · 7 days · 9 km away
- 14,968 haBenjamín Aceval14 October 2023 · 6 days · 17 km away
- 12,431 haVilla Hayes13 October 2023 · 7 days · 18 km away
- 151,199 haGeneral Jose Maria Bruguez22 September 2020 · 21 days · 25 km away
- 7,637 haVilla Hayes21 July 2020 · 4 days · 26 km away
- 12,661 haBenjamín Aceval25 August 2020 · 6 days · 34 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Benjamín Aceval fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 17 August 2021 and 21 August 2021: 5 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 3,218 hectares (32.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Benjamín Aceval (3,042 ha, 0.3 %); Villa Hayes (177 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.3 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 70 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 78, class Very 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.