Chaparral fire, 18 September 2026 Chaparral
The fire started on 18 September 2026 in Chaparral, Colombia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,437 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 6th largest in Tolima since 2016 (of 17 with a page). Number 55 in Colombia in 2026, of 159.
The power measured by the satellite is low (27.0 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
- 2,437ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 18 Sept 2026 – 21 Sept 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 18 Sept
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 2
- in a single hotspot: 27 MW
- Danger at start
- 38
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 32MW
- 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 30 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 23 Sept.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Chaparral where it started2,453 ha reached on 21 Sept1.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Sept | 37.5 °C | 24 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 19 Sept | 36.5 °C | 26 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 20 Sept | 37.7 °C | 23 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 21 Sept | 37.5 °C | 23 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 22 Sept after | 33.8 °C | 44 % | 22 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 27 |
| 23 Sept after | 33.0 °C | 49 % | 26 km/h | 1.1 mm | Moderate 18 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 23 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 26 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 15: 1.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 2Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Chaparral fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 18 September 2026 to 21 September 2026 (4 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 September 2026 to 18 September 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,437 hectares (24.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Chaparral (2,453 ha, 1.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 30 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Colombia (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: 123 · 119
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 International (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.