San Javier fire, January 2017 Constitución, Empedrado, San Javier
The fire started on 20 January 2017 in San Javier, Chile, and satellites saw it burning for 14 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 192,854 hectares from heat detections, spread across 6 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.
It is the largest fire in Región del Maule since 2016 (of 52 with a page). The largest in Chile in 2017, of 56.
- Burnt area
- 192,854ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 14days
- 20 Jan 2017 – 2 Feb 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 6
- communes
- Started on
- 20 Jan
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 11,212
- in a single hotspot: 666 MW
- Danger at start
- 49
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 308.0GW
- 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 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.2 mm on 4 Feb.
This area had burned before
1% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,046 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
69,897 ha reached on 19 Jan52 %
-
51,027 ha reached on 22 Jan90 %
-
San Javier where it started42,142 ha reached on 20 Jan32 %
-
23,518 ha reached on 21 Jan11 %
-
5,641 ha reached on 22 Jan11 %
-
977 ha reached on 21 Jan1.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Jan | 35.9 °C | 12 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 21 Jan | 35.8 °C | 11 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 22 Jan | 33.2 °C | 16 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 23 Jan | 32.7 °C | 19 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 24 Jan | 32.1 °C | 23 % | 64 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 25 Jan | 36.6 °C | 17 % | 64 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 26 Jan | 38.1 °C | 15 % | 60 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 27 Jan | 32.8 °C | 35 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 28 Jan | 34.4 °C | 22 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 29 Jan | 33.3 °C | 22 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 30 Jan | 31.2 °C | 25 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 31 Jan | 30.2 °C | 20 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 1 Feb | 31.8 °C | 17 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 2 Feb | 27.7 °C | 29 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 3 Feb after | 24.2 °C | 32 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 4 Feb after | 23.2 °C | 43 % | 41 km/h | 3.2 mm | Low 7 |
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.
Detections table · 11,212Every 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 San Javier fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 January 2017 and 2 February 2017: 14 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 192,854 hectares (1,928.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 6 municipalities: Constitución (69,897 ha, 52 %); Empedrado (51,027 ha, 90 %); San Javier (42,142 ha, 32 %); Cauquenes (23,518 ha, 11 %); Chanco (5,641 ha, 11 %); Pencahue (977 ha, 1.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.1 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 64 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 51, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Chile (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: 130 (CONAF) · 132
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 ADM3 (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.