Traiguén fire, January 2020 Traiguén, Ercilla, Los Sauces
The fire started on 27 January 2020 in Traiguén, Chile, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,933 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 53th largest in Región de La Araucanía since 2016 (of 159 with a page). Number 15 in Chile in 2020, of 37.
- Burnt area
- 1,933ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 27 Jan 2020 – 3 Feb 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- communes
- Started on
- 27 Jan
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 77
- in a single hotspot: 46 MW
- Danger at start
- 24
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 725MW
- 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 18 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 12.4 mm on 4 Feb.
This area had burned before
17% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 322 ha in 2016, 19 ha in 2018.
What happened to each town
-
Traiguén where it started1,782 ha reached on 27 Jan2.0 %
-
151 ha reached on 2 Feb0.3 %
-
0 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Jan | 28.7 °C | 30 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 28 Jan | 22.1 °C | 37 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 29 Jan | 23.2 °C | 33 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 30 Jan | 26.6 °C | 29 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 31 Jan | 28.4 °C | 42 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 1 Feb | 26.9 °C | 46 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 2 Feb | 28.6 °C | 28 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 3 Feb | 24.0 °C | 44 % | 38 km/h | 2.8 mm | Low 6 |
| 4 Feb after | 20.8 °C | 46 % | 34 km/h | 12.4 mm | Very low 1 |
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 · 77Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 13,252 haLos SaucesDecember 2021 · 7 days · 13 km away
- 10,542 haCollipulli1 February 2023 · 10 days · 19 km away
- 12,385 haTraiguénMarch 2025 · 6 days · 24 km away
- 9,086 haLumaco2 February 2023 · 8 days · 37 km away
- 11,526 haMulchén3 February 2023 · 10 days · 39 km away
- 10,183 haGalvarino7 February 2022 · 9 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Traiguén fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 27 January 2020 and 3 February 2020: 8 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 1,933 hectares (19.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Traiguén (1,782 ha, 2.0 %); Ercilla (151 ha, 0.3 %); Los Sauces (0 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.7 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 24, class 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.