Ercilla fire, February 2020 Ercilla
The fire started on 29 February 2020 in Ercilla, Chile, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,031 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 153th largest in Región de La Araucanía since 2016 (of 159 with a page). Number 37 in Chile in 2020, of 37.
- Burnt area
- 1,031ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 29 Feb 2020 – 4 Mar 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- communes
- Started on
- 29 Feb
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 34
- in a single hotspot: 33 MW
- Danger at start
- 18
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 184MW
- 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 11 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
0% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1 ha in 2019.
What happened to each town
-
Ercilla where it started1,033 ha reached on 26 Feb2.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Feb | 32.2 °C | 36 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 1 Mar | 28.1 °C | 42 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 2 Mar | 28.6 °C | 43 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 3 Mar | 29.3 °C | 34 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 4 Mar | 25.7 °C | 42 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 5 Mar after | 26.2 °C | 40 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 6 Mar after | 27.4 °C | 36 % | 40 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 23 |
| 7 Mar after | 22.5 °C | 40 % | 42 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 22 |
| 8 Mar after | 24.2 °C | 38 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 9 Mar after | 26.3 °C | 33 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 10 Mar after | 26.6 °C | 34 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 11 Mar after | 24.7 °C | 45 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 12 Mar after | 23.3 °C | 49 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 13 Mar after | 22.2 °C | 57 % | 42 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 14 Mar after | 21.7 °C | 38 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
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 · 34Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 10,542 haCollipulli1 February 2023 · 10 days · 7 km away
- 8,056 haTraiguén4 February 2023 · 14 days · 14 km away
- 11,526 haMulchén3 February 2023 · 10 days · 24 km away
- 13,252 haLos SaucesDecember 2021 · 7 days · 28 km away
- 12,385 haTraiguénMarch 2025 · 6 days · 34 km away
- 7,915 haPerquenco26 March 2026 · 5 days · 34 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ercilla fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 29 February 2020 and 4 March 2020: 5 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 1,031 hectares (10.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Ercilla (1,033 ha, 2.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.2 °C, humidity dropped to 34 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 26, 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.