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VE · Venezuela · –

Raúl Leoni fire, 19 February 2024 Raúl Leoni

Out · last detection 9 Mar 2024, 17:33 UTC

The fire started on 19 February 2024 in Raúl Leoni, Venezuela, and satellites saw it burning for 25 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,774 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 108th largest in Bolívar since 2016 (of 163 with a page). Number 340 in Venezuela in 2024, of 482.

The power measured by the satellite is low (13.2 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Compare with…
Burnt area
1,774ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
25days
19 Feb 2024 – 14 Mar 2024
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
19 Feb
2024
Heat detections
42
in a single hotspot: 13 MW
Danger at start
37
High · FWI index
Average daily power
11MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Feb14 Mar
9 Mar 2024

How it evolved, day by day

19 Feb 2024 · 18 MW · 2 25 Feb 2024 · 9 MW · 1 26 Feb 2024 · 4 MW · 3 27 Feb 2024 · 8 MW · 2 28 Feb 2024 · 13 MW · 1 29 Feb 2024 · 11 MW · 3 1 Mar 2024 · 7 MW · 8 3 Mar 2024 · 5 MW · 1 4 Mar 2024 · 7 MW · 5 5 Mar 2024 · 13 MW · 6 6 Mar 2024 · 8 MW · 4 7 Mar 2024 · 31 MW · 4 8 Mar 2024 · 11 MW · 1 9 Mar 2024 · 3 MW · 1
19 Feb 27 Feb 1 Mar 7 Mar

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
49km/h · peak gust
29%lowest humidity

It had gone 10 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.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.1% of the area of London (18 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. Raúl Leoni 40,927 inhabitants where it started
    1,791 ha reached on 19 Feb
    0.0 %

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 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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 Feb 34.4 °C 33 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
20 Feb 34.8 °C 30 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
21 Feb 34.5 °C 31 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
22 Feb 35.0 °C 34 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
23 Feb 35.2 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
24 Feb 34.7 °C 38 % 45 km/h 0.1 mm High 33
25 Feb 34.7 °C 37 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
26 Feb 34.0 °C 42 % 39 km/h 0.1 mm High 33
27 Feb 33.8 °C 34 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
28 Feb 34.7 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
29 Feb 35.1 °C 30 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
1 Mar 34.9 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
2 Mar 33.5 °C 35 % 42 km/h 0.2 mm High 35
3 Mar 33.5 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
4 Mar 36.4 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
5 Mar 36.0 °C 35 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
6 Mar 34.2 °C 40 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
7 Mar 35.1 °C 40 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
8 Mar 36.1 °C 33 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
9 Mar 36.4 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
10 Mar 36.8 °C 29 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
11 Mar 36.7 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Mar 36.5 °C 32 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
13 Mar 37.0 °C 33 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
14 Mar 34.9 °C 37 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
15 Mar after 36.5 °C 31 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
16 Mar after 34.4 °C 40 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
17 Mar after 36.4 °C 36 % 44 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 44
18 Mar after 35.6 °C 34 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
19 Mar after 35.0 °C 36 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
20 Mar after 35.7 °C 33 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
21 Mar after 37.5 °C 24 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
22 Mar after 35.8 °C 30 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
23 Mar after 36.2 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
24 Mar after 35.7 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 37.0, a minimum humidity of 33% and 10 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 39.

FWI at the start 37.0
Minimum humidity 33 %
Days without rain 10
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Sucre fire, April 2017
1,814 ha 5 days FWI 36.4 Min. humidity 36 % 78 km away, in 2017

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 5.9 mm on 12 Apr.

What happened to them

5 days
median duration
2,361 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
2.0 mm
rain at the end (median; 28 of 39 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (1,774 ha against a median of 2,361 ha) and lasted 25 days, against 5 days.

In 11 of 39, 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 2.0 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
49km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 14 Mar, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 28 of 39, with a median of 2.0 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 · 12 Feb 2024
After · 21 Mar 2024

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 · Copernicus

On 10 March 2024 the air beside the fire reached 30 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 19: 1.3 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak30 µg/m³
Days over the guideline4 days
PM1042 µg/m³
Optical depth0.63
23 Feb27 Feb2 Mar6 Mar10 Mar
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 42Every 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 Raúl Leoni fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 19 February 2024 to 14 March 2024 (25 days). The perimeter dates it from 25 February 2024 to 8 March 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 1,774 hectares (17.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Raúl Leoni (1,791 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.0 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, class Very high.
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: 39. Their median duration was 5 days and their median area 2,361 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 11 of 39, 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 2.0 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: 8 March 2024 → 14 March 2024.
  2. Start date: 25 February 2024 → 19 February 2024.

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 25 February 2024 to 8 March 2024. 42 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 2025, 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.