Contulmo fire, February 2020 Cañete, Contulmo
The fire started on 20 February 2020 in Contulmo, Chile, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,399 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 27th largest in Región del Bío-Bío since 2016 (of 74 with a page). Number 7 in Chile in 2020, of 37.
- Burnt area
- 2,399ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 20 Feb 2020 – 26 Feb 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- communes
- Started on
- 20 Feb
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 137
- in a single hotspot: 348 MW
- Danger at start
- 23
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.5GW
- 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
5% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 110 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
1,533 ha reached on 20 Feb1.4 %
-
870 ha reached on 20 Feb1.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Feb | 28.6 °C | 26 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 21 Feb | 29.3 °C | 27 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 22 Feb | 22.8 °C | 56 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 23 Feb | 18.7 °C | 63 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 24 Feb | 19.2 °C | 47 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 25 Feb | 20.8 °C | 49 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 26 Feb | 21.3 °C | 51 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 27 Feb after | 24.7 °C | 49 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 28 Feb after | 24.0 °C | 47 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 29 Feb after | 29.6 °C | 40 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 1 Mar after | 24.6 °C | 53 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 2 Mar after | 26.7 °C | 44 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 3 Mar after | 26.6 °C | 37 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 4 Mar after | 24.4 °C | 42 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 5 Mar after | 25.0 °C | 36 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 6 Mar after | 22.9 °C | 51 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 7 Mar after | 21.1 °C | 43 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
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.
Detections table · 137Every 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 Contulmo fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 February 2020 and 26 February 2020: 7 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 2,399 hectares (24.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Cañete (1,533 ha, 1.4 %); Contulmo (870 ha, 1.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 29.3 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 23, class 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.