Vichuquén fire, 21 January 2017 Vichuquén
The fire started on 21 January 2017 in Vichuquén, Chile, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 10,309 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 5th largest in Región del Maule since 2016 (of 52 with a page). Number 10 in Chile in 2017, of 56.
- Burnt area
- 10,309ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 21 Jan 2017 – 31 Jan 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- communes
- Started on
- 21 Jan
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 772
- in a single hotspot: 353 MW
- Danger at start
- 30
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 18.6GW
- 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 11 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
10% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,060 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Vichuquén where it started10,326 ha reached on 21 Jan23 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Jan | 29.7 °C | 27 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 22 Jan | 26.7 °C | 36 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 23 Jan | 29.2 °C | 23 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 24 Jan | 29.7 °C | 32 % | 58 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 25 Jan | 33.2 °C | 27 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 26 Jan | 28.1 °C | 40 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 27 Jan | 25.8 °C | 50 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 28 Jan | 23.6 °C | 55 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 29 Jan | 26.6 °C | 44 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 30 Jan | 28.9 °C | 24 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 31 Jan | 26.3 °C | 36 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 1 Feb after | 26.3 °C | 33 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 2 Feb after | 20.8 °C | 50 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 3 Feb after | 19.5 °C | 52 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 4 Feb after | 23.6 °C | 48 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 5 Feb after | 29.5 °C | 26 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 6 Feb after | 27.2 °C | 34 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 7 Feb after | 23.5 °C | 46 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 8 Feb after | 21.6 °C | 47 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 9 Feb after | 24.6 °C | 38 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 10 Feb after | 23.5 °C | 41 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
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 · 772Every 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 Vichuquén fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 January 2017 and 31 January 2017: 11 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 10,309 hectares (103.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Vichuquén (10,326 ha, 23 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.2 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 58 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, 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.