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GT · Guatemala · –

San Andrés fire, 15 April 2024 San Andrés

Out · last detection 1 May 2024, 19:24 UTC

The fire started on 15 April 2024 in San Andrés, Guatemala, and satellites saw it burning for 21 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,041 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 33th largest in Petén since 2016 (of 149 with a page). Number 22 in Guatemala in 2024, of 70.

Burnt area
2,041ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
21days
15 Apr 2024 – 5 May 2024
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
15 Apr
2024
Heat detections
96
in a single hotspot: 33 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Average daily power
46MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Apr5 May
1 May 2024

How it evolved, day by day

15 Apr 2024 · 19 MW · 4 16 Apr 2024 · 48 MW · 8 17 Apr 2024 · 5 MW · 6 18 Apr 2024 · 106 MW · 9 19 Apr 2024 · 189 MW · 15 20 Apr 2024 · 42 MW · 6 21 Apr 2024 · 24 MW · 5 22 Apr 2024 · 1 MW · 1 23 Apr 2024 · 42 MW · 21 25 Apr 2024 · 29 MW · 7 26 Apr 2024 · 75 MW · 11 28 Apr 2024 · 8 MW · 2 1 May 2024 · 5 MW · 1
15 Apr 19 Apr 25 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

42°high
51km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

88% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,848 ha in 2020.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.3% of the area of London (20 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. San Andrés 20,295 inhabitants where it started
    2,053 ha reached on 15 Apr
    0.2 %

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)
15 Apr 38.6 °C 33 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Apr 39.3 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
17 Apr 38.1 °C 32 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
18 Apr 39.7 °C 27 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
19 Apr 40.1 °C 28 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 Apr 39.1 °C 36 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 Apr 40.7 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
22 Apr 39.9 °C 26 % 29 km/h 0.2 mm High 34
23 Apr 39.5 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.3 mm High 37
24 Apr 40.0 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Apr 38.9 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Apr 41.0 °C 23 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
27 Apr 41.7 °C 27 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
28 Apr 41.0 °C 32 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
29 Apr 42.1 °C 30 % 33 km/h 6.0 mm Very high 39
30 Apr 40.7 °C 38 % 38 km/h 3.6 mm Moderate 12
1 May 39.2 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
2 May 40.6 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
3 May 41.0 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 May 40.9 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
5 May 41.3 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
6 May after 41.9 °C 28 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
7 May after 42.4 °C 26 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
8 May after 43.0 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
9 May after 43.2 °C 26 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
10 May after 43.1 °C 27 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
11 May after 42.0 °C 34 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
12 May after 42.3 °C 28 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
13 May after 44.0 °C 24 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 May after 43.5 °C 26 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
15 May after 40.6 °C 29 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 33

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 35.7, a minimum humidity of 33% and 3 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 15.

FWI at the start 35.7
Minimum humidity 33 %
Days without rain 3
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

San Andrés fire, April 2016
1,756 ha 4 days FWI 35.3 Min. humidity 33 % 47 km away, in 2016

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 2.4 mm on 21 Apr.

What happened to them

8 days
median duration
1,756 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
3.1 mm
rain at the end (median; 13 of 15 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (2,041 ha against a median of 1,756 ha) and lasted 21 days, against 8 days.

In 2 of 15, 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 3.1 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
51km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 5 May, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 13 of 15, with a median of 3.1 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 · 8 Apr 2024
After · 12 May 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 29 April 2024 the air beside the fire reached 34 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 20: 1.3 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak34 µg/m³
Days over the guideline2 days
PM1048 µg/m³
Optical depth1.29
14 Apr18 Apr22 Apr26 Apr30 Apr
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 · 96Every 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 Guatemala

Frequently asked questions

How long did the San Andrés fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 15 April 2024 to 5 May 2024 (21 days). The perimeter dates it from 16 April 2024 to 28 April 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,041 hectares (20.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered San Andrés (2,053 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 42.1 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Guatemala (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: 15. Their median duration was 8 days and their median area 1,756 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 2 of 15, 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 3.1 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: 122 · 123 · 1566 · 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: 28 April 2024 → 5 May 2024.
  2. Start date: 16 April 2024 → 15 April 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 122 · 123 · 1566.

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 16 April 2024 to 28 April 2024. 96 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 (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.