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Escuintla fire, 8 February 2016 Escuintla, San Vicente Pacaya

Out · last detection 14 Feb 2016, 07:06 UTC

The fire started on 8 February 2016 in Escuintla, Guatemala, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,322 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the largest fire in Escuintla since 2016 (of 17 with a page). Number 2 in Guatemala in 2016, of 33.

The power measured by the satellite is low (26.5 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
2,322ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
8 Feb 2016 – 14 Feb 2016
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
8 Feb
2016
Heat detections
125
in a single hotspot: 27 MW
Danger at start
26
High · FWI index
Energy released
522MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

14 Feb 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Feb14 Feb

How it evolved, day by day

891011121314

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

The weather it burned in

35°high
51km/h · peak gust
25%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Escuintla 16,187 inhabitants where it started
    1,708 ha reached on 8 Feb
    3.1 %
  2. San Vicente Pacaya
    628 ha reached on 9 Feb
    4.2 %

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)
8 Feb 32.0 °C 35 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
9 Feb 33.5 °C 28 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
10 Feb 33.4 °C 25 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
11 Feb 33.5 °C 28 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
12 Feb 33.8 °C 37 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
13 Feb 34.2 °C 34 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
14 Feb 34.5 °C 35 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
15 Feb after 32.2 °C 42 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
16 Feb after 33.5 °C 44 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
17 Feb after 33.4 °C 38 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
18 Feb after 35.4 °C 37 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
19 Feb after 34.9 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
20 Feb after 34.9 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
21 Feb after 33.8 °C 35 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
22 Feb after 32.8 °C 43 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
23 Feb after 32.5 °C 40 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
24 Feb after 34.1 °C 43 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
25 Feb after 35.0 °C 32 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
26 Feb after 34.9 °C 33 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Feb after 35.4 °C 28 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
28 Feb after 33.0 °C 33 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
29 Feb after 32.6 °C 37 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
1 Mar after 33.7 °C 37 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
2 Mar after 32.9 °C 43 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 29

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 1 Feb 2016
After · 21 Feb 2016

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 · 125Every 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 Guatemala ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Escuintla fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 8 February 2016 and 14 February 2016: 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 2,322 hectares (23.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Escuintla (1,708 ha, 3.1 %); San Vicente Pacaya (628 ha, 4.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.4 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Guatemala (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: 122 · 123 · 1566

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
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 122 · 123 · 1566.

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.