Formosa fire, 4 February 2026 Formosa
The fire started on 4 February 2026 in Formosa, Argentina, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,907 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 180th largest in Formosa since 2016 (of 620 with a page). Number 11 in Argentina in 2026, of 74.
- Burnt area
- 2,907ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 4 Feb 2026 – 7 Feb 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- departments
- Started on
- 4 Feb
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 46
- in a single hotspot: 31 MW
- Danger at start
- 14
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 339MW
- 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 6 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.6 mm on 13 Feb.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 571 ha in 2016, 380 ha in 2017, 1,317 ha in 2019, 2,809 ha in 2020, 581 ha in 2021, 938 ha in 2022, 1,427 ha in 2023, 660 ha in 2024, 159 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,899 ha that had burned before.
- 1,197 ha Formosa fire, March 2020 2,856 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 938 ha Pilcomayo fire, January 2022 81,287 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 581 ha Formosa fire, March 2024 23,802 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 339 ha Formosa fire, October 2020 4,767 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 159 ha Formosa fire, March 2025 2,251 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3 ha Formosa fire, February 2019 3,746 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Formosa where it started2,911 ha reached on 4 Feb0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Feb | 36.3 °C | 33 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 5 Feb | 38.0 °C | 30 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 6 Feb | 38.2 °C | 33 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 7 Feb | 37.0 °C | 37 % | 36 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 23 |
| 8 Feb after | 36.9 °C | 37 % | 25 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 9 Feb after | 38.1 °C | 39 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 10 Feb after | 33.2 °C | 50 % | 36 km/h | 0.4 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 11 Feb after | 37.9 °C | 36 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 12 Feb after | 38.8 °C | 35 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 13 Feb after | 29.4 °C | 59 % | 36 km/h | 5.6 mm | Very low 4 |
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 10 February 2026 the air beside the fire reached 35 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 21: 1.4 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 · 46Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Formosa fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 4 February 2026 and 7 February 2026: 4 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 2,907 hectares (29.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Formosa (2,911 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.2 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 23, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Argentina (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: 911 · 100
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.