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VE · Venezuela · –

Pedro Camejo fire, 18 January 2022 Pedro Camejo

Out · last detection 9 Feb 2022, 18:04 UTC

The fire started on 18 January 2022 in Pedro Camejo, Venezuela, and satellites saw it burning for 23 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,855 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 500th largest in Apure since 2016 (of 761 with a page). Number 140 in Venezuela in 2022, of 205.

Burnt area
1,855ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
23days
18 Jan 2022 – 9 Feb 2022
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
18 Jan
2022
Heat detections
85
in a single hotspot: 153 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Average daily power
38MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Jan9 Feb
9 Feb 2022

How it evolved, day by day

18 Jan 2022 · 19 MW · 3 19 Jan 2022 · 46 MW · 5 20 Jan 2022 · 10 MW · 2 23 Jan 2022 · 5 MW · 1 24 Jan 2022 · 189 MW · 7 25 Jan 2022 · 44 MW · 6 26 Jan 2022 · 38 MW · 7 27 Jan 2022 · 8 MW · 2 28 Jan 2022 · 39 MW · 11 29 Jan 2022 · 2 MW · 3 30 Jan 2022 · 82 MW · 7 31 Jan 2022 · 38 MW · 7 1 Feb 2022 · 18 MW · 3 2 Feb 2022 · 10 MW · 4 5 Feb 2022 · 22 MW · 3 8 Feb 2022 · 21 MW · 5 9 Feb 2022 · 57 MW · 9
18 Jan 24 Jan 28 Jan 1 Feb 9 Feb

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
50km/h · peak gust
28%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

97% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,409 ha in 2016, 858 ha in 2017, 3,102 ha in 2019, 2,192 ha in 2020, 960 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,796 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.2% of the area of London (19 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. Pedro Camejo where it started
    1,868 ha reached on 18 Jan
    0.1 %

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 area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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 Jan 35.0 °C 30 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
19 Jan 35.3 °C 35 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
20 Jan 35.0 °C 35 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
21 Jan 33.0 °C 48 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
22 Jan 34.8 °C 41 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
23 Jan 33.8 °C 38 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
24 Jan 35.6 °C 35 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
25 Jan 36.0 °C 35 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
26 Jan 34.6 °C 35 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Jan 34.3 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
28 Jan 34.8 °C 32 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
29 Jan 34.9 °C 32 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
30 Jan 34.4 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
31 Jan 35.3 °C 32 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Feb 35.7 °C 38 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
2 Feb 35.9 °C 38 % 44 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 47
3 Feb 36.0 °C 37 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
4 Feb 35.5 °C 35 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
5 Feb 35.6 °C 34 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
6 Feb 35.4 °C 36 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
7 Feb 37.1 °C 35 % 44 km/h 1.4 mm Very high 45
8 Feb 38.5 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
9 Feb 35.9 °C 38 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
10 Feb after 36.2 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
11 Feb after 35.5 °C 34 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
12 Feb after 36.4 °C 30 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
13 Feb after 35.8 °C 29 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
14 Feb after 35.8 °C 33 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
15 Feb after 35.2 °C 32 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
16 Feb after 35.2 °C 39 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
17 Feb after 35.2 °C 35 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
18 Feb after 35.6 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
19 Feb after 36.1 °C 30 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 33.2, a minimum humidity of 30% and rain the day before. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 32.

FWI at the start 33.2
Minimum humidity 30 %
Days without rain 0
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Pedro Camejo fire, April 2022
1,768 ha 3 days FWI 34.8 Min. humidity 30 % 77 km away, in 2022

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 3.9 mm on 15 Apr.

What happened to them

6 days
median duration
1,850 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
3.0 mm
rain at the end (median; 20 of 32 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (1,855 ha against a median of 1,850 ha) and lasted 23 days, against 6 days.

In 12 of 32, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.0 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
50km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 9 Feb, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 20 of 32, with a median of 3.0 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 11 Jan 2022
After · 16 Feb 2022

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 · 85Every 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 Venezuela

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Pedro Camejo fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 18 January 2022 to 9 February 2022 (23 days). The perimeter dates it from 24 January 2022 to 2 February 2022.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 1,855 hectares (18.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Pedro Camejo (1,868 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.5 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Venezuela (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 32. Their median duration was 6 days and their median area 1,850 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 12 of 32, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.0 mm.

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: 2 February 2022 → 9 February 2022.
  2. Start date: 24 January 2022 → 18 January 2022.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 24 January 2022 to 2 February 2022. 85 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 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.