Manto fire, 18 March 2020 Jano, La Unión, Manto
The fire started on 18 March 2020 in Manto, Honduras, and satellites saw it burning for 50 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 51,924 hectares from heat detections, spread across 7 municipalities.
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.
Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:
- 63,428 haOrica19 March 2020 · 50 days
- 22,862 haCedros20 March 2020 · 49 days
- 19,730 haGualaco31 March 2020 · 40 days
- 15,714 haGuayapeMarch 2020 · 37 days
- 9,313 haJuticalpa27 March 2020 · 38 days
- 7,597 haGuarizama2 April 2020 · 29 days
- 7,357 haJuticalpa5 April 2020 · 26 days
- 5,474 haLa UniónMarch 2020 · 35 days
It is the largest fire in Olancho since 2016 (of 227 with a page). Number 2 in Honduras in 2020, of 174.
Compare with…
- Burnt area
- 51,924ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 50days
- 18 Mar 2020 – 6 May 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 7
- municipalities
- Started on
- 18 Mar
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 4,758
- in a single hotspot: 257 MW
- Danger at start
- 20
- Moderate · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 656MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 8 May.
This area had burned before
32% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,713 ha in 2016, 8,156 ha in 2018, 7,148 ha in 2019.
- 3,445 ha La Unión fire, April 2018 3,533 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3,403 ha Salamá fire, March 2019 6,965 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 2,132 ha El Rosario fire, March 2019 2,390 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,713 ha Jano fire, March 2016 2,757 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,569 ha Manto fire, March 2018 1,625 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,283 ha La Unión fire, March 2018 2,376 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 970 ha Manto fire, March 2018 1,127 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 929 ha La Unión fire, March 2019 1,025 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
15,924 ha reached on 20 Mar46 %
-
15,901 ha reached on 25 Mar26 %
-
Manto where it started10,407 ha reached on 18 Mar20 %
-
5,857 ha reached on 20 Mar42 %
-
3,029 ha reached on 29 Mar9.0 %
-
695 ha reached on 4 Apr2.8 %
-
409 ha reached on 25 Mar2.5 %
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 2020Inside the perimeter there were about 5.3 hectares of built-up land and about 900 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Mar | 30.1 °C | 39 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 19 Mar | 30.6 °C | 31 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 20 Mar | 29.4 °C | 40 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 21 Mar | 30.2 °C | 34 % | 39 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 22 Mar | 28.6 °C | 44 % | 40 km/h | 2.2 mm | Low 7 |
| 23 Mar | 28.9 °C | 36 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 24 Mar | 29.7 °C | 38 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 25 Mar | 32.4 °C | 26 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 26 Mar | 32.4 °C | 30 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 27 Mar | 31.9 °C | 29 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 28 Mar | 32.9 °C | 25 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 29 Mar | 32.9 °C | 21 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 30 Mar | 30.6 °C | 31 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 31 Mar | 33.6 °C | 29 % | 35 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 29 |
| 1 Apr | 31.7 °C | 38 % | 32 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 25 |
| 2 Apr | 34.9 °C | 21 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 3 Apr | 34.3 °C | 28 % | 32 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 31 |
| 4 Apr | 34.2 °C | 28 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 5 Apr | 33.9 °C | 26 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 6 Apr | 34.1 °C | 27 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 7 Apr | 33.6 °C | 33 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 8 Apr | 34.5 °C | 28 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 9 Apr | 34.0 °C | 25 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 10 Apr | 36.4 °C | 19 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 11 Apr | 33.1 °C | 22 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 12 Apr | 32.5 °C | 30 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 13 Apr | 33.6 °C | 35 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 14 Apr | 33.0 °C | 24 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 15 Apr | 34.0 °C | 28 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 16 Apr | 33.8 °C | 21 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 17 Apr | 32.2 °C | 31 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 18 Apr | 32.3 °C | 33 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 19 Apr | 32.3 °C | 32 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 20 Apr | 34.8 °C | 29 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 21 Apr | 34.7 °C | 32 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 22 Apr | 33.1 °C | 35 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 23 Apr | 33.1 °C | 23 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 24 Apr | 35.0 °C | 31 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 25 Apr | 33.6 °C | 32 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 26 Apr | 33.3 °C | 31 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 27 Apr | 33.4 °C | 26 % | 38 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 37 |
| 28 Apr | 30.9 °C | 32 % | 39 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 36 |
| 29 Apr | 31.8 °C | 29 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 30 Apr | 32.4 °C | 36 % | 32 km/h | 2.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 1 May | 30.6 °C | 40 % | 39 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 25 |
| 2 May | 31.6 °C | 36 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 3 May | 31.5 °C | 38 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 4 May | 32.5 °C | 31 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 5 May | 31.0 °C | 36 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 6 May | 31.8 °C | 45 % | 32 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 28 |
| 7 May after | 32.1 °C | 35 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 8 May after | 30.2 °C | 44 % | 38 km/h | 1.1 mm | Moderate 19 |
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.
Detections table · 4,758Every 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 Manto fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 18 March 2020 to 6 May 2020 (50 days). The perimeter dates it from 25 March 2020 to 1 May 2020.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 51,924 hectares (519.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 7 municipalities: Jano (15,924 ha, 46 %); La Unión (15,901 ha, 26 %); Manto (10,407 ha, 20 %); El Rosario (5,857 ha, 42 %); Salamá (3,029 ha, 9.0 %); Yocón (695 ha, 2.8 %); Guarizama (409 ha, 2.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 36.4 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, 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 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
No changes since 24 October 2026.
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 12 polygons grouped in this page.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 25 March 2020 to 1 May 2020. 4,758 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.
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.