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PE · Peru · –

Coronel Portillo fire, 3 September 2024 Coronel Portillo

Out · last detection 26 Sept 2024, 18:23 UTC

The fire started on 3 September 2024 in Coronel Portillo, Peru, and satellites saw it burning for 24 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,176 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 4th largest in Ucayali since 2016 (of 52 with a page). Number 5 in Peru in 2024, of 71.

Burnt area
5,176ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
24days
3 Sept 2024 – 26 Sept 2024
Municipalities hit
1
provinces
Started on
3 Sept
2024
Heat detections
300
in a single hotspot: 77 MW
Danger at start
14
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
122MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 3 Sept26 Sept
26 Sept 2024

How it evolved, day by day

3 Sept 2024 · 4 MW · 1 4 Sept 2024 · 94 MW · 5 5 Sept 2024 · 6 MW · 3 6 Sept 2024 · 6 MW · 1 7 Sept 2024 · 26 MW · 4 10 Sept 2024 · 28 MW · 4 11 Sept 2024 · 147 MW · 11 12 Sept 2024 · 371 MW · 44 13 Sept 2024 · 361 MW · 42 14 Sept 2024 · 177 MW · 26 15 Sept 2024 · 136 MW · 16 17 Sept 2024 · 294 MW · 33 18 Sept 2024 · 46 MW · 7 19 Sept 2024 · 222 MW · 24 20 Sept 2024 · 177 MW · 16 21 Sept 2024 · 95 MW · 16 22 Sept 2024 · 65 MW · 7 23 Sept 2024 · 60 MW · 13 24 Sept 2024 · 27 MW · 5 25 Sept 2024 · 127 MW · 11 26 Sept 2024 · 91 MW · 11
3 Sept 12 Sept 21 Sept 26 Sept

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
34km/h · peak gust
36%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 11.9 mm on 27 Sept.

This area had burned before

21% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 328 ha in 2019, 965 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,091 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 3.3% of the area of London (52 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Coronel Portillo 135,161 inhabitants where it started
    5,507 ha reached on 3 Sept
    0.1 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area1.6 ha
Residents≈ 100

Inside the perimeter there were about 1.6 hectares of built-up land and about 100 residents (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
3 Sept 35.7 °C 36 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
4 Sept 34.4 °C 47 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
5 Sept 34.3 °C 49 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
6 Sept 32.3 °C 55 % 34 km/h 4.9 mm Very low 4
7 Sept 34.2 °C 43 % 14 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
8 Sept 35.5 °C 41 % 16 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 14
9 Sept 34.4 °C 53 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
10 Sept 35.9 °C 40 % 16 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 14
11 Sept 36.3 °C 42 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
12 Sept 35.5 °C 47 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
13 Sept 35.6 °C 43 % 28 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 18
14 Sept 37.3 °C 42 % 23 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 21
15 Sept 34.2 °C 51 % 33 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 20
16 Sept 33.0 °C 50 % 26 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 20
17 Sept 34.3 °C 50 % 23 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 20
18 Sept 35.7 °C 45 % 17 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 18
19 Sept 37.9 °C 36 % 17 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 19
20 Sept 36.8 °C 39 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
21 Sept 34.1 °C 46 % 32 km/h 0.8 mm High 25
22 Sept 34.9 °C 41 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
23 Sept 36.5 °C 42 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
24 Sept 37.4 °C 39 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
25 Sept 37.0 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
26 Sept 36.5 °C 44 % 27 km/h 0.6 mm High 32
27 Sept after 28.4 °C 66 % 20 km/h 11.9 mm Very low 1

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 14.3, a minimum humidity of 36% and 1 day without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 16.

FWI at the start 14.3
Minimum humidity 36 %
Days without rain 1
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Puerto Inca fire, September 2022
1,176 ha 7 days FWI 15.4 Min. humidity 36 % 139 km away, in 2022

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 10.0 mm on 14 Sept.

What happened to them

5 days
median duration
1,152 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
11.7 mm
rain at the end (median; 16 of 16 had it)

It was 4.5 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 24 days, against 5 days.

None of its 16 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 11.7 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

11.9 mmfirst rain
27 Septthe day after it ended
34km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 26 Sept, and on 27 Sept 11.9 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 16 of 16, with a median of 11.7 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 27 Aug 2024
After · 3 Oct 2024

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 13 September 2024 the air beside the fire reached 322 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 232: 15 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak322 µg/m³
Days over the guideline29 days
PM10461 µg/m³
Optical depth3.95
1 Sept7 Sept13 Sept19 Sept25 Sept
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 · 300Every 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 Peru

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Coronel Portillo fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 3 September 2024 to 26 September 2024 (24 days). The perimeter dates it from 10 September 2024 to 26 September 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,176 hectares (51.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Coronel Portillo (5,507 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.9 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Peru (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 16. Their median duration was 5 days and their median area 1,152 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. None of its 16 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 11.7 mm.

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: 116 · 105 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Area: 5,476 → 5,176 ha.
  2. Start date: 10 September 2024 → 3 September 2024.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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 116 · 105.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 3 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 10 September 2024 to 26 September 2024. 300 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.