San Nicolás fire, January 2017 San Nicolás, San Carlos, Chillán
The fire started on 26 January 2017 in San Nicolás, Chile, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,479 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 6th largest in Región de Ñuble since 2016 (of 56 with a page). Number 12 in Chile in 2017, of 56.
- Burnt area
- 9,479ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 26 Jan 2017 – 30 Jan 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- communes
- Started on
- 26 Jan
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 339
- in a single hotspot: 180 MW
- Danger at start
- 46
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 6.8GW
- 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 16 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.
What happened to each town
-
San Nicolás where it started9,333 ha reached on 26 Jan16 %
-
160 ha reached on 29 Jan0.2 %
-
5 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Jan | 39.0 °C | 19 % | 61 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 27 Jan | 31.7 °C | 37 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 28 Jan | 34.4 °C | 26 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 29 Jan | 31.4 °C | 30 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 30 Jan | 29.3 °C | 36 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 31 Jan after | 29.1 °C | 23 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 1 Feb after | 29.8 °C | 22 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 2 Feb after | 25.6 °C | 38 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 3 Feb after | 21.7 °C | 45 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 4 Feb after | 23.7 °C | 45 % | 32 km/h | 0.7 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 5 Feb after | 29.8 °C | 24 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 6 Feb after | 29.5 °C | 27 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 7 Feb after | 29.1 °C | 37 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 8 Feb after | 25.5 °C | 39 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 9 Feb after | 25.6 °C | 32 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
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 · 339Every 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 Nicolás fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 26 January 2017 and 30 January 2017: 5 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 9,479 hectares (94.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: San Nicolás (9,333 ha, 16 %); San Carlos (160 ha, 0.2 %); Chillán (5 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.0 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 61 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, class Very high.
- 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.