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HN · Honduras · –

Distrito Central fire, 27 March 2020 Distrito Central, Talanga

Out · last detection 12 Apr 2020, 18:32 UTC

The fire started on 27 March 2020 in Distrito Central, Honduras, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,997 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 50th largest in Francisco Morazán since 2016 (of 161 with a page). Number 68 in Honduras in 2020, of 172.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Juticalpa · 2017San Ignacio · 2024Distrito Central · 2019Cedros · 2020

Burnt area
1,997ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
17days
27 Mar 2020 – 12 Apr 2020
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
27 Mar
2020
Heat detections
97
in a single hotspot: 49 MW
Danger at start
37
High · FWI index
Average daily power
63MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 27 Mar12 Apr
12 Apr 2020

How it evolved, day by day

27 Mar 2020 · 1 MW · 1 28 Mar 2020 · 1 MW · 1 29 Mar 2020 · 8 MW · 1 30 Mar 2020 · 3 MW · 1 31 Mar 2020 · 66 MW · 4 1 Apr 2020 · 13 MW · 1 2 Apr 2020 · 297 MW · 9 3 Apr 2020 · 70 MW · 10 4 Apr 2020 · 131 MW · 8 5 Apr 2020 · 85 MW · 14 6 Apr 2020 · 201 MW · 20 7 Apr 2020 · 30 MW · 14 8 Apr 2020 · 17 MW · 8 9 Apr 2020 · 6 MW · 1 12 Apr 2020 · 15 MW · 4
27 Mar 30 Mar 2 Apr 5 Apr 8 Apr

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
48km/h · peak gust
14%lowest humidity

It had gone 16 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

2% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 36 ha in 2019.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.3% of the area of London (20 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. Distrito Central 1,126,534 inhabitants where it started
    1,628 ha reached on 30 Mar
    1.1 %
  2. Talanga
    382 ha reached on 27 Mar
    0.9 %

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 2020
Built-up area1.9 ha
Residents≈ 150

Inside the perimeter there were about 1.9 hectares of built-up land and about 150 residents (GHSL 2020, 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.

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)
27 Mar 32.0 °C 28 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 Mar 33.1 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
29 Mar 32.3 °C 16 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
30 Mar 30.8 °C 27 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
31 Mar 33.2 °C 24 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
1 Apr 32.0 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.8 mm High 36
2 Apr 34.2 °C 21 % 31 km/h 1.5 mm High 35
3 Apr 33.9 °C 28 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
4 Apr 34.2 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
5 Apr 34.3 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
6 Apr 33.8 °C 23 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
7 Apr 32.8 °C 28 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
8 Apr 33.4 °C 26 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
9 Apr 34.1 °C 21 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
10 Apr 36.9 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
11 Apr 34.6 °C 14 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
12 Apr 33.8 °C 21 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
13 Apr after 34.8 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.5 mm Very high 42
14 Apr after 34.3 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
15 Apr after 34.7 °C 23 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
16 Apr after 33.6 °C 14 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
17 Apr after 31.8 °C 27 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
18 Apr after 33.2 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
19 Apr after 33.3 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Apr after 34.1 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
21 Apr after 34.1 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Apr after 33.8 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 36.9, a minimum humidity of 28% and 16 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 41.

FWI at the start 36.9
Minimum humidity 28 %
Days without rain 16
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Juticalpa fire, April 2017
1,093 ha 10 days FWI 36.9 Min. humidity 28 % 70 km away, in 2017

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 5.5 mm on 11 Apr.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

10 days
median duration
1,462 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
3.5 mm
rain at the end (median; 33 of 41 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (1,997 ha against a median of 1,462 ha) and lasted 17 days, against 10 days.

In 8 of 41, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.5 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

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
48km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 12 Apr, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 33 of 41, with a median of 3.5 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 · 20 Mar 2020
After · 19 Apr 2020

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 · 97Every 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 Honduras

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Distrito Central fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 27 March 2020 to 12 April 2020 (17 days). The perimeter dates it from 31 March 2020 to 8 April 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 1,997 hectares (20.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Distrito Central (1,628 ha, 1.1 %); Talanga (382 ha, 0.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.9 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 55, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Honduras (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: 41. Their median duration was 10 days and their median area 1,462 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 8 of 41, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.5 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: 911 · 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. Last day with fire: 8 April 2020 → 12 April 2020.
  2. Start date: 31 March 2020 → 27 March 2020.

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 911.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 31 March 2020 to 8 April 2020. 97 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 2020, 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 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.