The fire started on 31 January 2023 in Guamal, Colombia, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,966 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 126th largest in Meta since 2016 (of 214 with a page). Number 31 in Colombia in 2023, of 57.
matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Burned area
with caveats
1,966ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
This page1,966UNGRD1,259
Source
GWIS (Copernicus)
Date
31 Jan 2023 – 4 Feb 2023
+− cross-check
UNGRD: 1,259 ha (matched records: 1). Difference between the page and the official record: +56.2%. Matched on 8 November 2026. The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Duration by satellite
satellite only
5days
31 Jan 2023 to 4 Feb 2023: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 3 Feb 2023, 19:14 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only
31 Jan 2023
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
31 Jan 2023
+− cross-check
The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Hotspots
satellite only
57
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 51 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
Date
31 Jan 2023 – 4 Feb 2023
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only
390MW
Total radiative power on 1 February 2023; hotspots that day: 21.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
1 Feb 2023
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model
0.6FWI · very low
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 6.
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings ›
Weather during the fire
model
13.8°C · 39% RH
High of 13.8 °C and minimum humidity of 39% on 4 February 2023; gusts of 32 km/h on 4 February 2023.
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
ⓘThis page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official UNGRD record
Nearby records with very different figures: 1,259 ha (records: 1).
· reconstructedweather
Weather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
log
Last day with fire: 3 February 2023 → 4 February 2023.
A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
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 2025
Built-up area< 0.1ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
According to UNGRD, a fire of 1,259 ha was recorded in Guamal on 1 February 2023 (the satellite measured 1,966 ha). The record has no coordinates, so it was matched by municipality and date. The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
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)
31 Jan
11.9 °C
54 %
25 km/h
0.9 mm
Very low 1
1 Feb
13.1 °C
42 %
22 km/h
0.2 mm
Very low 1
2 Feb
12.2 °C
48 %
26 km/h
0.1 mm
Very low 2
3 Feb
12.6 °C
39 %
29 km/h
0.0 mm
Very low 3
4 Feb
13.8 °C
39 %
32 km/h
0.1 mm
Very low 4
5 Feb after
12.4 °C
47 %
41 km/h
0.0 mm
Very low 4
6 Feb after
12.1 °C
62 %
36 km/h
2.5 mm
Very low 0
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 0.6, a minimum humidity of 54% and 6 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 15.
FWI at the start0.6
Minimum humidity54 %
Days without rain6
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Guamal fire, January 2023
1,966 ha5 daysFWI 0.6Min. humidity 54 %
La Macarena fire, February 2024
1,798 ha7 daysFWI 4.3Min. humidity 54 %223 km away, in 2024
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 2.4 mm on 27 Feb.
It burned an area similar to its twins (1,966 ha against a median of 1,762 ha) and lasted 5 days, against 6 days.
In 3 of 15, 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 3.8 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
2.5 mmfirst rain
6 Feb2 days after it ended
32km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 4 Feb, and on 6 Feb 2.5 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 12 of 15, with a median of 3.8 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.
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 24 Jan 2023
After · 11 Feb 2023
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 · Copernicus
On 2 February 2023 the air beside the fire reached 51 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 21: 1.4 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak51µg/m³
Days over the guideline4days
PM1073µg/m³
Optical depth0.45
WHO 15
29 Jan31 Jan2 Feb4 Feb6 Feb
GoodFairModeratePoorVery poorExtremely poor
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· 57Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.›
⬇ Download CSVTimes in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 31 January 2023 to 4 February 2023 (5 days). The perimeter dates it from 31 January 2023 to 3 February 2023.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 1,966 hectares (19.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Guamal (1,919 ha, 3.2 %); Gutiérrez (60 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 13.8 °C, humidity dropped to 39 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 4, class Very low.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Colombia (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: 15. Their median duration was 6 days and their median area 1,762 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 3 of 15, 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 3.8 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.
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 errorHow we know this›
Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 31 January 2023 to 3 February 2023. 57 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with UNGRD: 1,259 official ha against 1,966 ha of perimeter; similar, but with reservations.
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 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.