Maule fire, January 2017 Maule, Pencahue
The fire started on 21 January 2017 in Maule, Chile, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,106 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 13th largest in Región del Maule since 2016 (of 52 with a page). Number 19 in Chile in 2017, of 56.
- Burnt area
- 5,106ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 21 Jan 2017 – 26 Jan 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- communes
- Started on
- 21 Jan
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 194
- in a single hotspot: 150 MW
- Danger at start
- 34
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.8GW
- 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 11 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
-
Maule where it started4,906 ha reached on 21 Jan20 %
-
210 ha reached on 25 Jan0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Jan | 32.4 °C | 25 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 22 Jan | 31.5 °C | 28 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 23 Jan | 32.1 °C | 23 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 24 Jan | 30.7 °C | 33 % | 62 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 25 Jan | 35.6 °C | 25 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 26 Jan | 35.2 °C | 27 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 27 Jan after | 30.5 °C | 45 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 28 Jan after | 32.5 °C | 36 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 29 Jan after | 32.1 °C | 29 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 30 Jan after | 30.1 °C | 30 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 31 Jan after | 29.7 °C | 29 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 1 Feb after | 30.6 °C | 23 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 2 Feb after | 27.7 °C | 29 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 3 Feb after | 22.2 °C | 40 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 4 Feb after | 24.6 °C | 46 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 5 Feb after | 30.7 °C | 25 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
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 · 194Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 1,463 haMauleDecember 2025 · 2 days · 7 km away
- 3,027 haSan JavierJanuary 2025 · 4 days · 23 km away
- 192,854 haSan JavierJanuary 2017 · 14 days · 26 km away
- 2,711 haSan JavierJanuary 2023 · 3 days · 30 km away
- 6,995 haCureptoFebruary 2023 · 12 days · 38 km away
- 1,848 haCureptoFebruary 2026 · 4 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Maule fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 January 2017 and 26 January 2017: 6 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 5,106 hectares (51.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Maule (4,906 ha, 20 %); Pencahue (210 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.6 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 62 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 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
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.