Escuintla fire, 19 January 2026 Escuintla, San Vicente Pacaya, Palín
The fire started on 19 January 2026 in Escuintla, Guatemala, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,351 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 10th largest in Escuintla since 2016 (of 17 with a page). Number 11 in Guatemala in 2026, of 20.
The power measured by the satellite is low (16.6 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
- 1,351ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 19 Jan 2026 – 21 Jan 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 19 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 15
- in a single hotspot: 17 MW
- Danger at start
- 13
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 78MW
- 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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
97% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 916 ha in 2016, 983 ha in 2018, 104 ha in 2019, 893 ha in 2021, 779 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,313 ha that had burned before.
- 983 ha Escuintla fire, January 2018 1,866 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 916 ha Escuintla fire, February 2016 2,322 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 893 ha Escuintla fire, February 2021 1,015 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 779 ha Escuintla fire, February 2023 1,008 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 104 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
-
1,328 ha reached on 19 Jan2.4 %
-
26 ha0.2 %
-
Palín 62,127 inhabitants5 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Jan | 33.2 °C | 41 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 20 Jan | 32.8 °C | 43 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 21 Jan | 30.5 °C | 47 % | 32 km/h | 2.4 mm | Very low 4 |
| 22 Jan after | 32.2 °C | 48 % | 32 km/h | 0.2 mm | Low 9 |
| 23 Jan after | 31.4 °C | 53 % | 31 km/h | 0.5 mm | Low 9 |
| 24 Jan after | 30.7 °C | 55 % | 34 km/h | 0.2 mm | Low 10 |
| 25 Jan after | 31.1 °C | 58 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 26 Jan after | 31.8 °C | 56 % | 34 km/h | 0.4 mm | Low 10 |
| 27 Jan after | 32.9 °C | 46 % | 35 km/h | 0.9 mm | Low 9 |
| 28 Jan after | 32.4 °C | 44 % | 30 km/h | 0.6 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 29 Jan after | 31.0 °C | 41 % | 32 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 30 Jan after | 30.5 °C | 47 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 31 Jan after | 31.0 °C | 39 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
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 17 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 70 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 35: 2.3 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 · 15Every 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
- 2,277 haEscuintla31 January 2026 · 7 days · 17 km away
- 1,626 haGuanagazapaFebruary 2022 · 2 days · 17 km away
- 4,376 haYepocapaFebruary 2017 · 9 days · 25 km away
- 2,578 haYepocapaFebruary 2016 · 3 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Escuintla fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 January 2026 and 21 January 2026: 3 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 1,351 hectares (13.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Escuintla (1,328 ha, 2.4 %); San Vicente Pacaya (26 ha, 0.2 %); Palín (5 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.2 °C, humidity dropped to 41 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 13, class Moderate.
- 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.