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EC · Ecuador · →

Isabela fire, March 2024 Isabela

Out · last detection 24 May 2024, 07:47 UTC

The fire started on 3 March 2024 in Isabela, Ecuador, and satellites saw it burning for 83 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 27,069 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

The largest in Ecuador in 2024, of 24.

Burnt area
27,069ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
83days
3 Mar 2024 – 24 May 2024
Municipalities hit
1
cantons
Started on
3 Mar
2024
Heat detections
5,709
in a single hotspot: 3,874 MW
Danger at start
0
Very low · FWI index
Energy released
143.9GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

24 May 2024
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 3 Mar24 May

How it evolved, day by day

34567891011121415161718202223242527282930311234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829301234567111213141516171819222324

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

The weather it burned in

30°high
50km/h · peak gust
43%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.5 mm on 25 May.

This area had burned before

24% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5,089 ha in 2017, 1,314 ha in 2020.

What happened to each town

  1. Isabela where it started
    27,192 ha reached on 3 Mar
    5.0 %

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)
3 Mar 26.7 °C 62 % 30 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 0
4 Mar 27.3 °C 55 % 26 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 2
5 Mar 27.9 °C 49 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
6 Mar 28.6 °C 45 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
7 Mar 27.5 °C 59 % 32 km/h 6.5 mm Very low 0
8 Mar 25.5 °C 71 % 24 km/h 10.7 mm Very low 0
9 Mar 25.3 °C 74 % 23 km/h 27.7 mm Very low 0
10 Mar 26.2 °C 71 % 19 km/h 4.6 mm Very low 0
11 Mar 25.8 °C 76 % 25 km/h 10.5 mm Very low 0
12 Mar 25.1 °C 79 % 22 km/h 28.0 mm Very low 0
13 Mar 25.8 °C 75 % 22 km/h 9.5 mm Very low 0
14 Mar 25.7 °C 76 % 26 km/h 35.5 mm Very low 0
15 Mar 26.4 °C 71 % 19 km/h 9.8 mm Very low 0
16 Mar 27.2 °C 71 % 39 km/h 3.2 mm Very low 0
17 Mar 25.7 °C 80 % 21 km/h 17.6 mm Very low 0
18 Mar 26.5 °C 81 % 22 km/h 14.9 mm Very low 0
19 Mar 24.4 °C 82 % 27 km/h 22.2 mm Very low 0
20 Mar 26.2 °C 77 % 30 km/h 10.3 mm Very low 0
21 Mar 25.2 °C 82 % 23 km/h 9.1 mm Very low 0
22 Mar 27.2 °C 68 % 25 km/h 1.7 mm Very low 0
23 Mar 26.6 °C 80 % 24 km/h 12.3 mm Very low 0
24 Mar 25.4 °C 83 % 22 km/h 27.5 mm Very low 0
25 Mar 25.2 °C 81 % 26 km/h 41.4 mm Very low 0
26 Mar 24.7 °C 79 % 34 km/h 13.2 mm Very low 0
27 Mar 26.3 °C 70 % 24 km/h 1.0 mm Very low 0
28 Mar 26.7 °C 70 % 26 km/h 2.8 mm Very low 0
29 Mar 25.7 °C 79 % 24 km/h 4.1 mm Very low 0
30 Mar 27.2 °C 64 % 20 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 0
31 Mar 27.1 °C 64 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
1 Apr 27.1 °C 57 % 28 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 1
2 Apr 27.0 °C 60 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
3 Apr 27.4 °C 57 % 32 km/h 0.9 mm Very low 2
4 Apr 26.8 °C 59 % 23 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 2
5 Apr 27.2 °C 59 % 25 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 3
6 Apr 27.2 °C 55 % 29 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 4
7 Apr 28.1 °C 53 % 26 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 4
8 Apr 27.8 °C 60 % 38 km/h 1.1 mm Very low 3
9 Apr 27.2 °C 59 % 34 km/h 5.6 mm Very low 0
10 Apr 25.9 °C 70 % 27 km/h 4.6 mm Very low 0
11 Apr 29.0 °C 59 % 32 km/h 2.0 mm Very low 1
12 Apr 29.1 °C 56 % 36 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 1
13 Apr 29.4 °C 51 % 32 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 1
14 Apr 29.9 °C 52 % 50 km/h 2.6 mm Very low 1
15 Apr 29.3 °C 56 % 34 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 4
16 Apr 29.6 °C 48 % 32 km/h 0.6 mm Low 6
17 Apr 29.8 °C 43 % 33 km/h 0.3 mm Low 8
18 Apr 29.3 °C 48 % 29 km/h 0.5 mm Low 8
19 Apr 29.3 °C 48 % 26 km/h 1.5 mm Very low 4
20 Apr 24.6 °C 75 % 34 km/h 3.9 mm Very low 0
21 Apr 27.7 °C 59 % 28 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 1
22 Apr 28.0 °C 54 % 39 km/h 5.0 mm Very low 1
23 Apr 27.6 °C 56 % 31 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 1
24 Apr 26.3 °C 64 % 41 km/h 1.5 mm Very low 2
25 Apr 26.6 °C 61 % 22 km/h 5.3 mm Very low 0
26 Apr 23.4 °C 82 % 43 km/h 5.6 mm Very low 0
27 Apr 24.4 °C 74 % 44 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 0
28 Apr 25.6 °C 67 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
29 Apr 27.0 °C 56 % 29 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 2
30 Apr 28.4 °C 47 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm Low 6
1 May 28.5 °C 48 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
2 May 28.2 °C 46 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
3 May 28.6 °C 49 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
4 May 28.8 °C 49 % 27 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 5
5 May 29.9 °C 45 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm Low 10
6 May 29.2 °C 45 % 27 km/h 0.8 mm Low 9
7 May 26.9 °C 59 % 36 km/h 2.6 mm Very low 2
8 May 27.6 °C 59 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
9 May 28.5 °C 46 % 38 km/h 1.1 mm Low 8
10 May 27.3 °C 53 % 38 km/h 5.8 mm Very low 1
11 May 27.6 °C 53 % 30 km/h 2.2 mm Very low 2
12 May 26.6 °C 59 % 38 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 4
13 May 25.7 °C 64 % 25 km/h 4.3 mm Very low 1
14 May 25.3 °C 65 % 27 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 2
15 May 28.0 °C 53 % 30 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 5
16 May 27.4 °C 54 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
17 May 26.3 °C 57 % 31 km/h 1.2 mm Very low 4
18 May 26.6 °C 53 % 32 km/h 0.6 mm Low 7
19 May 26.5 °C 58 % 39 km/h 0.9 mm Low 6
20 May 26.5 °C 58 % 38 km/h 0.3 mm Low 8
21 May 26.6 °C 55 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
22 May 27.5 °C 49 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
23 May 26.9 °C 51 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
24 May 28.3 °C 48 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
25 May after 25.0 °C 66 % 31 km/h 3.5 mm Very low 1

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 25 Feb 2024
After · 31 May 2024

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 12 March 2024 the air beside the fire reached 16 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak16 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1023 µg/m³
Optical depth0.39
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Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely 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 · 5,709Every 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 Ecuador ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Isabela fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 March 2024 and 24 May 2024: 83 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 27,069 hectares (270.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Isabela (27,192 ha, 5.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.9 °C, humidity dropped to 43 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 13, class Moderate.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Ecuador (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
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.

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.