Escuintla fire, 29 January 2026 Escuintla, Palín
The fire started on 29 January 2026 in Escuintla, Guatemala, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,258 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 12th largest in Escuintla since 2016 (of 17 with a page). Number 14 in Guatemala in 2026, of 20.
The power measured by the satellite is low (12.7 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
- 1,258ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 29 Jan 2026 – 3 Feb 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 29 Jan
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 34
- in a single hotspot: 13 MW
- Danger at start
- 13
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 105MW
- 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 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
14% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 37 ha in 2016, 161 ha in 2018, 108 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 170 ha that had burned before.
- 161 ha Escuintla fire, January 2018 1,866 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 108 ha Escuintla fire, February 2021 1,015 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 37 ha Escuintla fire, February 2016 2,322 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
1,019 ha reached on 29 Jan1.8 %
-
Palín 62,127 inhabitants246 ha reached on 3 Feb2.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Jan | 28.6 °C | 40 % | 32 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 30 Jan | 28.1 °C | 47 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 31 Jan | 28.6 °C | 38 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 1 Feb | 29.3 °C | 32 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 2 Feb | 29.3 °C | 24 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 3 Feb | 27.6 °C | 28 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 4 Feb after | 27.6 °C | 46 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 5 Feb after | 30.4 °C | 33 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 6 Feb after | 29.5 °C | 36 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 7 Feb after | 28.3 °C | 37 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 8 Feb after | 28.0 °C | 30 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 9 Feb after | 28.4 °C | 29 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 10 Feb after | 29.2 °C | 34 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 11 Feb after | 29.0 °C | 41 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 12 Feb after | 30.2 °C | 32 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 13 Feb after | 29.7 °C | 37 % | 38 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 26 January 2026 the air beside the fire reached 109 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 53: 3.5 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
- 1,866 haEscuintlaJanuary 2018 · 7 days · 3 km away
- 2,322 haEscuintla8 February 2016 · 7 days · 4 km away
- 2,277 haEscuintla31 January 2026 · 7 days · 14 km away
- 1,626 haGuanagazapaFebruary 2022 · 2 days · 20 km away
- 4,376 haYepocapaFebruary 2017 · 9 days · 22 km away
- 2,578 haYepocapaFebruary 2016 · 3 days · 29 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Escuintla fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 29 January 2026 and 3 February 2026: 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 1,258 hectares (12.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Escuintla (1,019 ha, 1.8 %); Palín (246 ha, 2.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 29.3 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 22, 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.