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Litueche fire, November 2016 Litueche, La Estrella

Out · last detection 18 Nov 2016, 19:27 UTC

The fire started on 17 November 2016 in Litueche, Chile, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,932 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 7th largest in Región del Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins since 2016 (of 28 with a page). Number 4 in Chile in 2016, of 28.

Burnt area
3,932ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
2days
17 Nov 2016 – 18 Nov 2016
Municipalities hit
2
communes
Started on
17 Nov
2016
Heat detections
98
in a single hotspot: 455 MW
Danger at start
39
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
2.5GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

18 Nov 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Nov18 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

1718

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
49km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone 15 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Litueche where it started
    3,937 ha reached on 17 Nov
    6.4 %
  2. La Estrella
    4 ha
    0.0 %

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)
17 Nov 33.6 °C 9 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
18 Nov 23.4 °C 34 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
19 Nov after 21.8 °C 51 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
20 Nov after 21.1 °C 47 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
21 Nov after 23.2 °C 39 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
22 Nov after 22.9 °C 43 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
23 Nov after 21.8 °C 47 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 16
24 Nov after 25.0 °C 40 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
25 Nov after 21.1 °C 52 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
26 Nov after 24.3 °C 40 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
27 Nov after 24.1 °C 33 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
28 Nov after 31.7 °C 17 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 32

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 10 Nov 2016
After · 25 Nov 2016

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 · 98Every 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 Chile ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Litueche fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 17 November 2016 and 18 November 2016: 2 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 3,932 hectares (39.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Litueche (3,937 ha, 6.4 %); La Estrella (4 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.6 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Chile (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: 130 (CONAF) · 132

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 130 (CONAF) · 132.

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 ADM3 (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.