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Caleu Caleu fire, 11 December 2016 Villarino, Caleu Caleu

Out · last detection 15 Dec 2016, 19:19 UTC

The fire started on 11 December 2016 in Caleu Caleu, Argentina, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 22,895 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 6th largest in La Pampa since 2016 (of 190 with a page). Number 5 in Argentina in 2016, of 255.

Burnt area
22,895ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
4days
11 Dec 2016 – 14 Dec 2016
Municipalities hit
2
departments
Started on
11 Dec
2016
Heat detections
742
in a single hotspot: 680 MW
Danger at start
23
High · FWI index
Energy released
17.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

15 Dec 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 11 Dec14 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

1112131415

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

The weather it burned in

29°high
80km/h · peak gust
14%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 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. Villarino 30,745 inhabitants
    20,067 ha reached on 11 Dec
    1.9 %
  2. Caleu Caleu where it started
    2,878 ha reached on 11 Dec
    0.3 %

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)
11 Dec 29.0 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
12 Dec 26.4 °C 14 % 80 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
13 Dec 19.8 °C 27 % 56 km/h 0.3 mm High 25
14 Dec 27.0 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
15 Dec after 36.3 °C 23 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
16 Dec after 35.7 °C 24 % 66 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 Dec after 28.5 °C 29 % 51 km/h 0.3 mm High 29
18 Dec after 30.8 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
19 Dec after 34.9 °C 12 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
20 Dec after 36.2 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
21 Dec after 28.8 °C 12 % 66 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
22 Dec after 30.3 °C 14 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
23 Dec after 30.5 °C 20 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 4 Dec 2016
After · 21 Dec 2016

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 · 742Every 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 Caleu Caleu fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 December 2016 and 14 December 2016: 4 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 22,895 hectares (229.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Villarino (20,067 ha, 1.9 %); Caleu Caleu (2,878 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.0 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 80 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, class Very 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.