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HN · Honduras · –

Guajiquiro fire, 31 March 2020 Guajiquiro, Lamaní

Out · last detection 9 Apr 2020, 19:28 UTC

The fire started on 31 March 2020 in Guajiquiro, Honduras, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,923 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 4th largest in La Paz since 2016 (of 11 with a page). Number 36 in Honduras in 2020, of 172.

The power measured by the satellite is low (28.4 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
2,923ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
10days
31 Mar 2020 – 9 Apr 2020
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
31 Mar
2020
Heat detections
95
in a single hotspot: 28 MW
Danger at start
45
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
79MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 31 Mar9 Apr
9 Apr 2020

How it evolved, day by day

31 Mar 2020 · 35 MW · 2 1 Apr 2020 · 218 MW · 21 2 Apr 2020 · 271 MW · 36 3 Apr 2020 · 93 MW · 19 4 Apr 2020 · 25 MW · 4 6 Apr 2020 · 42 MW · 5 7 Apr 2020 · 2 MW · 2 8 Apr 2020 · 16 MW · 4 9 Apr 2020 · 11 MW · 2
31 Mar 2 Apr 4 Apr 7 Apr 9 Apr

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
42km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

15% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 302 ha in 2017, 133 ha in 2018.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.8% of the area of London (29 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Guajiquiro where it started
    1,683 ha reached on 31 Mar
    4.8 %
  2. 1,257 ha reached on 1 Apr
    4.1 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area0.48 ha
Residents≈ 90

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.48 hectares of built-up land and about 90 residents (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)

Started with 60 days without rain: 2.0 % of the area in Honduras

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
31 Mar 33.1 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 45
1 Apr 32.5 °C 35 % 29 km/h 0.3 mm High 34
2 Apr 32.0 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.9 mm High 36
3 Apr 30.8 °C 46 % 31 km/h 0.6 mm High 27
4 Apr 30.4 °C 48 % 34 km/h 2.4 mm Low 10
5 Apr 30.9 °C 39 % 36 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 20
6 Apr 34.4 °C 27 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
7 Apr 35.5 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
8 Apr 35.6 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
9 Apr 34.5 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
10 Apr after 34.5 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
11 Apr after 32.5 °C 34 % 41 km/h 0.2 mm High 37
12 Apr after 32.2 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
13 Apr after 31.0 °C 44 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
14 Apr after 32.6 °C 33 % 39 km/h 0.4 mm High 31
15 Apr after 32.3 °C 37 % 38 km/h 0.6 mm High 28
16 Apr after 33.6 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.4 mm High 33
17 Apr after 34.3 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
18 Apr after 34.4 °C 18 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
19 Apr after 32.0 °C 37 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 45.2, a minimum humidity of 28% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 25.

FWI at the start 45.2
Minimum humidity 28 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Opatoro fire, March 2018
1,461 ha 5 days FWI 43.8 Min. humidity 27 % 22 km away, in 2018

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.1 mm on 3 Apr.

What happened to them

8 days
median duration
1,374 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
2.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 12 of 25 had it)

It was 2.1 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 10 days, against 8 days.

Only 3 of its 25 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 13 of 25, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.2 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
42km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 9 Apr, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 12 of 25, with a median of 2.2 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Mar 2020
After · 16 Apr 2020

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 · 95Every 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 Honduras

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Guajiquiro fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 31 March 2020 and 9 April 2020: 10 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 2,923 hectares (29.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Guajiquiro (1,683 ha, 4.8 %); Lamaní (1,257 ha, 4.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.6 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Honduras (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 25. Their median duration was 8 days and their median area 1,374 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 3 of its 25 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 13 of 25, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.2 mm.

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 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

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 911.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 95 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.