Pilcomayo fire, October 2026 Pilcomayo
The fire started on 17 October 2026 in Pilcomayo, Argentina, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,607 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 548th largest in Formosa since 2016 (of 620 with a page). Number 63 in Argentina in 2026, of 74.
The power measured by the satellite is low (24.0 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 1,607ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 17 Oct 2026 – 20 Oct 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- departments
- Started on
- 17 Oct
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 34
- in a single hotspot: 24 MW
- Danger at start
- 4
- Very low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 181MW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,886 ha in 2016, 188 ha in 2018, 719 ha in 2019, 837 ha in 2020, 984 ha in 2022, 1,768 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,613 ha that had burned before.
- 1,109 ha Pilcomayo fire, February 2024 1,523 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 982 ha Pilcomayo fire, January 2022 2,617 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 687 ha Pilcomayo fire, September 2019 3,854 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 593 ha Pilcomayo fire, September 2016 5,377 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 330 ha Pilcomayo fire, March 2024 9,362 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 329 ha Pilcomayo fire, March 2024 5,642 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 287 ha Pilcomayo fire, September 2016 2,622 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 256 ha Pilcomayo fire, August 2020 2,943 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Pilcomayo where it started1,611 ha reached on 17 Oct0.3 %
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 Oct | 23.9 °C | 48 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very low 4 |
| 18 Oct | 23.5 °C | 45 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very low 4 |
| 19 Oct | 24.7 °C | 40 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 6 |
| 20 Oct | 24.8 °C | 50 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 6 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 15 October 2026 the air beside the fire reached 17 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 34Every 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 Pilcomayo fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 17 October 2026 to 20 October 2026 (4 days). The perimeter dates it from 17 October 2026 to 19 October 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 1,607 hectares (16.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Pilcomayo (1,611 ha, 0.3 %).
- Is the Pilcomayo fire still active?
- No fire detections since 20 Oct 2026, 05:23 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 24.8 °C, humidity dropped to 40 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 6, class Low.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Argentina (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 · 100
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 ADM2 (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.