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Guayape fire, March 2020 Guayape, Salamá, Orica

Out · last detection 30 Apr 2020, 06:45 UTC

The fire started on 25 March 2020 in Guayape, Honduras, and satellites saw it burning for 37 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 15,714 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 municipalities.

It is the 3th largest in Olancho since 2016 (of 227 with a page). Number 6 in Honduras in 2020, of 174.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Guayape · 2018Guayape · 2018Orica · 2017Orica · 2020

Burnt area
15,714ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
37days
25 Mar 2020 – 30 Apr 2020
Municipalities hit
4
municipalities
Started on
25 Mar
2020
Heat detections
1,469
in a single hotspot: 239 MW
Danger at start
30
High · FWI index
Average daily power
310MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 25 Mar30 Apr
30 Apr 2020

How it evolved, day by day

25 Mar 2020 · 18 MW · 2 26 Mar 2020 · 118 MW · 6 27 Mar 2020 · 15 MW · 3 28 Mar 2020 · 300 MW · 13 29 Mar 2020 · 140 MW · 22 31 Mar 2020 · 56 MW · 9 1 Apr 2020 · 100 MW · 17 2 Apr 2020 · 430 MW · 31 3 Apr 2020 · 253 MW · 42 4 Apr 2020 · 1,074 MW · 100 5 Apr 2020 · 466 MW · 90 6 Apr 2020 · 655 MW · 56 7 Apr 2020 · 399 MW · 99 8 Apr 2020 · 947 MW · 106 9 Apr 2020 · 693 MW · 79 10 Apr 2020 · 770 MW · 65 11 Apr 2020 · 42 MW · 38 12 Apr 2020 · 555 MW · 79 13 Apr 2020 · 669 MW · 80 14 Apr 2020 · 297 MW · 28 15 Apr 2020 · 160 MW · 31 16 Apr 2020 · 648 MW · 60 17 Apr 2020 · 322 MW · 77 18 Apr 2020 · 251 MW · 57 19 Apr 2020 · 346 MW · 66 20 Apr 2020 · 249 MW · 28 21 Apr 2020 · 120 MW · 19 22 Apr 2020 · 20 MW · 14 23 Apr 2020 · 56 MW · 18 24 Apr 2020 · 35 MW · 14 25 Apr 2020 · 51 MW · 12 26 Apr 2020 · 219 MW · 39 27 Apr 2020 · 295 MW · 38 29 Apr 2020 · 58 MW · 12 30 Apr 2020 · 16 MW · 19
25 Mar 31 Mar 4 Apr 5 Apr 10 Apr 15 Apr 20 Apr 25 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
49km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

It had gone 14 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 6 May.

This area had burned before

18% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 710 ha in 2017, 2,046 ha in 2018.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 9.9% of the area of London (157 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. Guayape where it started
    9,541 ha reached on 25 Mar
    23 %
  2. Salamá
    3,176 ha reached on 1 Apr
    9.4 %
  3. Orica
    2,144 ha reached on 29 Mar
    5.3 %
  4. Concordia
    942 ha reached on 31 Mar
    3.8 %

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 area2.9 ha
Residents≈ 400

Inside the perimeter there were about 2.9 hectares of built-up land and about 400 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)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
25 Mar 31.4 °C 26 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
26 Mar 31.1 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Mar 31.5 °C 27 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
28 Mar 32.6 °C 21 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
29 Mar 32.3 °C 18 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
30 Mar 29.7 °C 30 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
31 Mar 33.1 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
1 Apr 33.1 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
2 Apr 35.9 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
3 Apr 34.6 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
4 Apr 34.3 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.7 mm High 34
5 Apr 33.8 °C 22 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
6 Apr 33.7 °C 23 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
7 Apr 32.8 °C 30 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
8 Apr 33.7 °C 27 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
9 Apr 33.5 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
10 Apr 36.1 °C 16 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
11 Apr 33.3 °C 17 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
12 Apr 33.0 °C 25 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
13 Apr 34.3 °C 29 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Apr 33.1 °C 19 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
15 Apr 33.7 °C 26 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
16 Apr 33.4 °C 17 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
17 Apr 31.5 °C 29 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
18 Apr 32.5 °C 26 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
19 Apr 32.6 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
20 Apr 34.7 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
21 Apr 34.0 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Apr 33.0 °C 33 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm High 38
23 Apr 33.3 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
24 Apr 34.9 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
25 Apr 32.7 °C 30 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Apr 32.9 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
27 Apr 32.6 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
28 Apr 29.6 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.2 mm High 38
29 Apr 31.2 °C 27 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
30 Apr 33.0 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.5 mm High 36
1 May after 30.0 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm High 32
2 May after 31.3 °C 35 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
3 May after 32.2 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
4 May after 32.4 °C 29 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
5 May after 30.6 °C 36 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
6 May after 32.3 °C 39 % 34 km/h 1.0 mm High 23

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 18 Mar 2020
After · 7 May 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 · 1,469Every 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 Guayape fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 25 March 2020 to 30 April 2020 (37 days). The perimeter dates it from 28 March 2020 to 25 April 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 15,714 hectares (157.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 4 municipalities: Guayape (9,541 ha, 23 %); Salamá (3,176 ha, 9.4 %); Orica (2,144 ha, 5.3 %); Concordia (942 ha, 3.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.1 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, 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.

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 · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 25 April 2020 → 30 April 2020.
  2. Start date: 28 March 2020 → 25 March 2020.

RSS Changes to this page

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
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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; 6 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 28 March 2020 to 25 April 2020. 1,469 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.