Collipulli fire, January 2026 Collipulli
The fire started on 18 January 2026 in Collipulli, Chile, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,023 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 154th largest in Región de La Araucanía since 2016 (of 159 with a page). Number 58 in Chile in 2026, of 63.
The power measured by the satellite is low (25.6 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
- 1,023ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 18 Jan 2026 – 19 Jan 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- communes
- Started on
- 18 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 32
- in a single hotspot: 26 MW
- Danger at start
- 40
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 139MW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
83% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 508 ha in 2017, 166 ha in 2020, 668 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 850 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Collipulli where it started1,023 ha reached on 18 Jan0.8 %
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 Jan | 33.6 °C | 21 % | 59 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 19 Jan | 34.1 °C | 22 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 20 Jan after | 32.5 °C | 27 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 21 Jan after | 27.5 °C | 39 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 22 Jan after | 27.8 °C | 36 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 23 Jan after | 30.4 °C | 32 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 24 Jan after | 30.0 °C | 31 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 25 Jan after | 27.5 °C | 35 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 26 Jan after | 29.0 °C | 35 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 27 Jan after | 29.7 °C | 38 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 28 Jan after | 31.8 °C | 40 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 29 Jan after | 34.4 °C | 43 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
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 20 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 71 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 36: 2.4 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 · 32Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 5,902 haMulchén12 February 2022 · 4 days · 16 km away
- 19,213 haMulchén3 February 2023 · 11 days · 18 km away
- 10,542 haCollipulli1 February 2023 · 10 days · 20 km away
- 13,252 haLos SaucesDecember 2021 · 7 days · 22 km away
- 5,946 haErcilla3 February 2023 · 9 days · 22 km away
- 11,526 haMulchén3 February 2023 · 10 days · 26 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Collipulli fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 18 January 2026 and 19 January 2026: 2 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 1,023 hectares (10.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Collipulli (1,023 ha, 0.8 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.1 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 59 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Chile (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: 130 (CONAF) · 132
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 ADM3 (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.