Escuintla fire, February 2023 Escuintla, San Vicente Pacaya
The fire started on 9 February 2023 in Escuintla, Guatemala, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,008 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 17th largest in Escuintla since 2016 (of 17 with a page). Number 26 in Guatemala in 2023, of 26.
The power measured by the satellite is low (22.3 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
- 1,008ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 9 Feb 2023 – 14 Feb 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 9 Feb
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 34
- in a single hotspot: 22 MW
- Danger at start
- 21
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 197MW
- 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 26 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 924 ha in 2016, 693 ha in 2018, 170 ha in 2019, 568 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,003 ha that had burned before.
- 924 ha Escuintla fire, February 2016 2,322 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 693 ha Escuintla fire, January 2018 1,866 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 568 ha Escuintla fire, February 2021 1,015 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 170 ha Escuintla fire, March 2019 1,303 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
1,005 ha reached on 8 Feb1.8 %
-
9 ha0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Feb | 31.8 °C | 47 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 10 Feb | 31.7 °C | 48 % | 38 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 11 Feb | 32.8 °C | 36 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 12 Feb | 34.5 °C | 32 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 13 Feb | 32.4 °C | 39 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 14 Feb | 31.4 °C | 48 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 15 Feb after | 31.7 °C | 49 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 16 Feb after | 30.9 °C | 51 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 17 Feb after | 32.1 °C | 47 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 18 Feb after | 34.4 °C | 35 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 19 Feb after | 33.3 °C | 39 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 20 Feb after | 34.0 °C | 35 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 21 Feb after | 31.9 °C | 42 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 22 Feb after | 30.6 °C | 54 % | 32 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 23 Feb after | 30.4 °C | 47 % | 39 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 22 |
| 24 Feb after | 31.9 °C | 43 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 15 February 2023 the air beside the fire reached 52 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 30: 2.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 34Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 2,322 haEscuintla8 February 2016 · 7 days · 1 km away
- 1,866 haEscuintlaJanuary 2018 · 7 days · 1 km away
- 1,626 haGuanagazapaFebruary 2022 · 2 days · 17 km away
- 2,277 haEscuintla31 January 2026 · 7 days · 18 km away
- 4,376 haYepocapaFebruary 2017 · 9 days · 26 km away
- 3,512 haTaxiscoFebruary 2026 · 6 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Escuintla fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 February 2023 and 14 February 2023: 6 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 1,008 hectares (10.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Escuintla (1,005 ha, 1.8 %); San Vicente Pacaya (9 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.5 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 40 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 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
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.