Skip to content
worldfires
CR · Costa Rica · →

Carrillo fire, January 2026 Carrillo, Santa Cruz

Out · last detection 24 Mar 2026, 19:53 UTC

The fire started on 28 January 2026 in Carrillo, Costa Rica, and satellites saw it burning for 56 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 15,880 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

It is the largest fire in Provincia Guanacaste since 2016 (of 111 with a page). The largest in Costa Rica in 2026, of 24.

The power measured by the satellite is low (27.8 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
15,880ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
56days
28 Jan 2026 – 24 Mar 2026
Municipalities hit
2
cantons
Started on
28 Jan
2026
Heat detections
500
in a single hotspot: 28 MW
Danger at start
29
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.9GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

24 Mar 2026
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 28 Jan24 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

282912345678910111213141516171819212223242526272812345678913141516172021222324

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
80km/h · peak gust
26%lowest humidity

It had gone 42 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.6 mm on 1 Apr.

This area had burned before

90% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,831 ha in 2016, 3,736 ha in 2017, 2,577 ha in 2018, 8,239 ha in 2019, 5,735 ha in 2020, 9,419 ha in 2022, 1,392 ha in 2023, 5,360 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 14,337 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Carrillo where it started
    9,643 ha reached on 28 Jan
    16 %
  2. Santa Cruz
    6,341 ha reached on 1 Feb
    4.7 %

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)
28 Jan 30.7 °C 46 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
29 Jan 28.9 °C 50 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
30 Jan 30.4 °C 45 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
31 Jan 28.5 °C 46 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
1 Feb 29.2 °C 41 % 71 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
2 Feb 27.9 °C 39 % 80 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
3 Feb 28.5 °C 40 % 68 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
4 Feb 30.9 °C 43 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
5 Feb 30.5 °C 44 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
6 Feb 29.0 °C 42 % 70 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
7 Feb 29.0 °C 38 % 66 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
8 Feb 28.5 °C 45 % 66 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
9 Feb 28.9 °C 47 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
10 Feb 29.6 °C 47 % 61 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
11 Feb 31.1 °C 46 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
12 Feb 30.7 °C 50 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Feb 30.0 °C 45 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
14 Feb 30.7 °C 46 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
15 Feb 32.9 °C 42 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
16 Feb 32.8 °C 37 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Feb 31.5 °C 40 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
18 Feb 32.1 °C 43 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
19 Feb 32.4 °C 43 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
20 Feb 33.7 °C 40 % 37 km/h 0.7 mm High 26
21 Feb 33.7 °C 42 % 45 km/h 0.4 mm High 29
22 Feb 32.9 °C 38 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
23 Feb 31.4 °C 40 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
24 Feb 28.7 °C 47 % 74 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
25 Feb 30.0 °C 43 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
26 Feb 33.0 °C 39 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Feb 34.5 °C 37 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
28 Feb 33.1 °C 46 % 48 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
1 Mar 32.9 °C 43 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
2 Mar 32.9 °C 35 % 63 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
3 Mar 31.3 °C 45 % 63 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
4 Mar 32.1 °C 44 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Mar 34.1 °C 38 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
6 Mar 32.5 °C 43 % 53 km/h 0.1 mm High 37
7 Mar 32.5 °C 44 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
8 Mar 33.6 °C 36 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
9 Mar 33.2 °C 39 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
10 Mar 32.1 °C 45 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
11 Mar 33.8 °C 34 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Mar 33.6 °C 38 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
13 Mar 32.7 °C 42 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
14 Mar 33.3 °C 38 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
15 Mar 35.1 °C 29 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
16 Mar 35.4 °C 26 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
17 Mar 35.4 °C 31 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
18 Mar 35.5 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
19 Mar 35.2 °C 33 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 39
20 Mar 32.7 °C 35 % 45 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 41
21 Mar 32.0 °C 36 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
22 Mar 31.6 °C 41 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Mar 34.4 °C 30 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
24 Mar 34.4 °C 31 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Mar after 34.7 °C 29 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Mar after 34.5 °C 30 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
27 Mar after 34.7 °C 35 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 Mar after 32.1 °C 44 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Mar after 32.5 °C 43 % 60 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 44
30 Mar after 33.5 °C 40 % 52 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 39
31 Mar after 32.7 °C 44 % 53 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 41
1 Apr after 33.1 °C 42 % 46 km/h 2.6 mm Moderate 18

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 21 Jan 2026
After · 31 Mar 2026

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 27 February 2026 the air beside the fire reached 22 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 16: 1.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak22 µg/m³
Days over the guideline1 day
PM1025 µg/m³
Optical depth0.48
26272829303112345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728123456789101112131415161718192021
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 500Every 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 Costa Rica ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Carrillo fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 28 January 2026 to 24 March 2026 (56 days). The perimeter dates it from 2 February 2026 to 18 March 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 15,880 hectares (158.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Carrillo (9,643 ha, 16 %); Santa Cruz (6,341 ha, 4.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.5 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 80 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Costa Rica (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

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.

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 (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication). 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.