Intipuca fire, March 2026 Intipuca
The fire started on 22 March 2026 in Intipuca, El Salvador, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,866 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 3th largest in Departamento de La Unión since 2016 (of 16 with a page). The largest in El Salvador in 2026, of 5.
The power measured by the satellite is low (11.2 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
- 2,866ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 12days
- 22 Mar 2026 – 2 Apr 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 22 Mar
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 76
- in a single hotspot: 11 MW
- Danger at start
- 29
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 295MW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 3 Apr.
This area had burned before
90% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,137 ha in 2016, 1,832 ha in 2017, 2,533 ha in 2019, 113 ha in 2020, 723 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,586 ha that had burned before.
- 2,533 ha Intipuca fire, March 2019 4,821 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,832 ha Intipuca fire, March 2017 4,087 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,137 ha Intipuca fire, April 2016 1,167 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 723 ha Intipuca fire, March 2022 1,210 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 113 ha Intipuca fire, March 2020 1,559 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Intipuca where it started2,884 ha reached on 22 Mar26 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Mar | 31.4 °C | 38 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 23 Mar | 31.0 °C | 43 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 24 Mar | 31.5 °C | 39 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 25 Mar | 31.2 °C | 38 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 26 Mar | 32.1 °C | 39 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 27 Mar | 31.8 °C | 39 % | 30 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 30 |
| 28 Mar | 32.7 °C | 38 % | 32 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 30 |
| 29 Mar | 32.9 °C | 36 % | 32 km/h | 1.2 mm | High 26 |
| 30 Mar | 32.2 °C | 41 % | 31 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 28 |
| 31 Mar | 31.9 °C | 42 % | 33 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 26 |
| 1 Apr | 31.4 °C | 47 % | 35 km/h | 2.7 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 2 Apr | 31.0 °C | 49 % | 33 km/h | 2.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 3 Apr after | 32.0 °C | 44 % | 31 km/h | 1.2 mm | Moderate 16 |
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 28 March 2026 the air beside the fire reached 62 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 17: 1.1 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 · 76Every 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 Intipuca fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 March 2026 and 2 April 2026: 12 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 2,866 hectares (28.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Intipuca (2,884 ha, 26 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.9 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of El Salvador (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
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 (Public Domain). 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.