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Orica fire, 19 March 2020 Marale, San Ignacio, El Porvenir

Out · last detection 7 May 2020, 19:03 UTC

The fire started on 19 March 2020 in Orica, Honduras, and satellites saw it burning for 50 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 63,428 hectares from heat detections, spread across 8 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:

It is the largest fire in Francisco Morazán since 2016 (of 178 with a page). The largest in Honduras in 2020, of 174.

Compare with…

Suggestions: San Ignacio · 2018El Porvenir · 2018San Ignacio · 2019San José del Potrero · 2017

Burnt area
63,428ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
50days
19 Mar 2020 – 7 May 2020
Municipalities hit
8
municipalities
Started on
19 Mar
2020
Heat detections
6,267
in a single hotspot: 279 MW
Danger at start
30
High · FWI index
Average daily power
1.1GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Mar7 May
7 May 2020

How it evolved, day by day

19 Mar 2020 · 7 MW · 1 20 Mar 2020 · 21 MW · 2 21 Mar 2020 · 101 MW · 19 22 Mar 2020 · 7 MW · 5 23 Mar 2020 · 58 MW · 8 25 Mar 2020 · 132 MW · 17 26 Mar 2020 · 526 MW · 25 27 Mar 2020 · 98 MW · 14 28 Mar 2020 · 565 MW · 41 29 Mar 2020 · 596 MW · 47 30 Mar 2020 · 133 MW · 5 31 Mar 2020 · 785 MW · 90 1 Apr 2020 · 368 MW · 97 2 Apr 2020 · 1,252 MW · 123 3 Apr 2020 · 511 MW · 84 4 Apr 2020 · 1,296 MW · 119 5 Apr 2020 · 463 MW · 86 6 Apr 2020 · 1,577 MW · 153 7 Apr 2020 · 1,015 MW · 228 8 Apr 2020 · 3,138 MW · 268 9 Apr 2020 · 2,957 MW · 269 10 Apr 2020 · 5,950 MW · 338 11 Apr 2020 · 804 MW · 245 12 Apr 2020 · 5,389 MW · 532 13 Apr 2020 · 4,870 MW · 545 14 Apr 2020 · 1,736 MW · 250 15 Apr 2020 · 1,885 MW · 302 16 Apr 2020 · 2,172 MW · 189 17 Apr 2020 · 3,122 MW · 460 18 Apr 2020 · 3,030 MW · 420 19 Apr 2020 · 1,549 MW · 285 20 Apr 2020 · 2,236 MW · 242 21 Apr 2020 · 198 MW · 64 22 Apr 2020 · 19 MW · 12 23 Apr 2020 · 364 MW · 92 24 Apr 2020 · 749 MW · 105 25 Apr 2020 · 706 MW · 105 26 Apr 2020 · 334 MW · 43 27 Apr 2020 · 1,382 MW · 122 28 Apr 2020 · 230 MW · 24 29 Apr 2020 · 357 MW · 50 30 Apr 2020 · 26 MW · 28 1 May 2020 · 84 MW · 8 3 May 2020 · 325 MW · 47 4 May 2020 · 108 MW · 20 5 May 2020 · 113 MW · 22 6 May 2020 · 137 MW · 14 7 May 2020 · 15 MW · 2
19 Mar 27 Mar 3 Apr 10 Apr 17 Apr 24 Apr 1 May

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
48km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.6 mm on 8 May.

This area had burned before

43% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,681 ha in 2016, 7,833 ha in 2017, 16,196 ha in 2018, 9,947 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 26,965 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 40% of the area of London (634 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Marale
    14,993 ha reached on 22 Mar
    37 %
  2. San Ignacio
    12,264 ha reached on 21 Mar
    37 %
  3. El Porvenir
    12,191 ha reached on 21 Mar
    29 %
  4. Guayape
    8,495 ha reached on 21 Mar
    20 %
  5. Orica where it started
    8,210 ha reached on 19 Mar
    20 %
  6. San José del Potrero
    2,972 ha reached on 25 Mar
    15 %
  7. Minas de Oro
    2,599 ha reached on 2 Apr
    6.6 %
  8. Esquías
    2,084 ha reached on 25 Mar
    5.3 %

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 2020
Built-up area51 ha
Residents≈ 6,800

Inside the perimeter there were about 51 hectares of built-up land and about 6,800 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)
19 Mar 30.5 °C 22 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
20 Mar 30.5 °C 22 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
21 Mar 29.1 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.1 mm High 31
22 Mar 27.9 °C 32 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
23 Mar 29.4 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
24 Mar 30.6 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
25 Mar 31.7 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
26 Mar 31.9 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Mar 31.6 °C 21 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
28 Mar 32.6 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
29 Mar 32.3 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
30 Mar 29.7 °C 24 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
31 Mar 32.7 °C 19 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
1 Apr 31.5 °C 30 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
2 Apr 33.7 °C 17 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
3 Apr 33.4 °C 21 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
4 Apr 33.6 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
5 Apr 33.4 °C 21 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
6 Apr 33.8 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
7 Apr 32.7 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
8 Apr 33.6 °C 23 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
9 Apr 33.7 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
10 Apr 36.2 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
11 Apr 33.4 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
12 Apr 32.1 °C 21 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
13 Apr 34.2 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
14 Apr 33.4 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
15 Apr 33.8 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
16 Apr 33.5 °C 16 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
17 Apr 31.8 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
18 Apr 32.7 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
19 Apr 32.2 °C 22 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Apr 33.7 °C 24 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
21 Apr 32.7 °C 29 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
22 Apr 31.9 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
23 Apr 32.8 °C 20 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
24 Apr 34.6 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
25 Apr 32.5 °C 27 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
26 Apr 33.3 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Apr 32.5 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.7 mm High 37
28 Apr 29.4 °C 24 % 37 km/h 0.5 mm High 36
29 Apr 31.5 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
30 Apr 30.4 °C 36 % 36 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 20
1 May 27.6 °C 40 % 36 km/h 0.7 mm High 22
2 May 29.8 °C 33 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
3 May 32.0 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
4 May 31.4 °C 25 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
5 May 30.6 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
6 May 31.0 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm High 32
7 May 27.5 °C 45 % 35 km/h 9.3 mm Very low 4
8 May after 27.2 °C 45 % 31 km/h 1.6 mm Low 6

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Mar 2020
After · 14 May 2020

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 · 6,267Every 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 Honduras ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Orica fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 19 March 2020 to 7 May 2020 (50 days). The perimeter dates it from 26 March 2020 to 30 April 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 63,428 hectares (634.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 8 municipalities: Marale (14,993 ha, 37 %); San Ignacio (12,264 ha, 37 %); El Porvenir (12,191 ha, 29 %); Guayape (8,495 ha, 20 %); Orica (8,210 ha, 20 %); San José del Potrero (2,972 ha, 15 %); Minas de Oro (2,599 ha, 6.6 %); Esquías (2,084 ha, 5.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.2 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, 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 · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 30 April 2020 → 7 May 2020.
  2. Start date: 26 March 2020 → 19 March 2020.

RSS Changes to this page

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.

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 26 March 2020 to 30 April 2020. 6,267 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.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.