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Capayán fire, 19 September 2016 Pomán, Capayán

Out · last detection 22 Sept 2016, 18:57 UTC

The fire started on 19 September 2016 in Capayán, Argentina, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,201 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 23th largest in Catamarca since 2016 (of 44 with a page). Number 136 in Argentina in 2016, of 255.

The power measured by the satellite is low (29.4 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
2,201ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
4days
19 Sept 2016 – 22 Sept 2016
Municipalities hit
2
departments
Started on
19 Sept
2016
Heat detections
98
in a single hotspot: 29 MW
Danger at start
16
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
722MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

22 Sept 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Sept22 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

19202122

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

The weather it burned in

18°high
50km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 15 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.5 mm on 29 Sept.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Pomán
    2,042 ha reached on 20 Sept
    0.4 %
  2. Capayán where it started
    168 ha reached on 19 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)
19 Sept 11.3 °C 35 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
20 Sept 13.6 °C 32 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
21 Sept 17.4 °C 26 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
22 Sept 17.5 °C 23 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
23 Sept after 10.0 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
24 Sept after 10.2 °C 30 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
25 Sept after 14.3 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
26 Sept after 17.9 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
27 Sept after 19.0 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
28 Sept after 17.7 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.2 mm High 23
29 Sept after 13.8 °C 46 % 45 km/h 1.5 mm Low 6

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Sept 2016
After · 29 Sept 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 · 98Every 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 Capayán fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 September 2016 and 22 September 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 2,201 hectares (22.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Pomán (2,042 ha, 0.4 %); Capayán (168 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 17.5 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 20, class Moderate.
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.