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PY · Paraguay · –

Villa Oliva fire, August 2021 Villa Oliva, Quiindy, Caapucu

Out · last detection 24 Aug 2021, 04:57 UTC

The fire started on 6 August 2021 in Villa Oliva, Paraguay, and satellites saw it burning for 19 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,884 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 8th largest in Ñeembucú since 2016 (of 60 with a page). Number 36 in Paraguay in 2021, of 250.

Burnt area
5,884ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
19days
6 Aug 2021 – 24 Aug 2021
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
6 Aug
2021
Heat detections
349
in a single hotspot: 94 MW
Danger at start
23
High · FWI index
Average daily power
283MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Aug24 Aug
24 Aug 2021

How it evolved, day by day

6 Aug 2021 · 24 MW · 5 7 Aug 2021 · 78 MW · 6 8 Aug 2021 · 58 MW · 15 9 Aug 2021 · 1 MW · 1 11 Aug 2021 · 37 MW · 4 13 Aug 2021 · 18 MW · 5 15 Aug 2021 · 416 MW · 28 16 Aug 2021 · 114 MW · 19 17 Aug 2021 · 869 MW · 39 18 Aug 2021 · 983 MW · 65 19 Aug 2021 · 1,323 MW · 82 20 Aug 2021 · 326 MW · 39 21 Aug 2021 · 216 MW · 26 22 Aug 2021 · 58 MW · 6 23 Aug 2021 · 11 MW · 4 24 Aug 2021 · 5 MW · 5
6 Aug 11 Aug 19 Aug

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

39°high
63km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

It had gone 21 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 37.7 mm on 25 Aug.

This area had burned before

99% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 884 ha in 2018, 784 ha in 2019, 13,188 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,836 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 3.7% of the area of London (59 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. Villa Oliva where it started
    5,605 ha reached on 6 Aug
    3.5 %
  2. 257 ha reached on 7 Aug
    0.4 %
  3. 51 ha reached on 18 Aug
    0.0 %

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 2020
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, 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.

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)
6 Aug 27.0 °C 43 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
7 Aug 32.9 °C 30 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
8 Aug 33.5 °C 29 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
9 Aug 25.2 °C 44 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
10 Aug 13.8 °C 75 % 38 km/h 0.7 mm Low 10
11 Aug 16.2 °C 53 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
12 Aug 17.4 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
13 Aug 20.6 °C 48 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
14 Aug 24.4 °C 41 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
15 Aug 26.9 °C 36 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
16 Aug 30.7 °C 32 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
17 Aug 36.0 °C 27 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
18 Aug 39.2 °C 16 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
19 Aug 38.2 °C 18 % 63 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
20 Aug 34.8 °C 27 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
21 Aug 34.0 °C 26 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
22 Aug 35.8 °C 25 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
23 Aug 33.8 °C 37 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
24 Aug 22.9 °C 63 % 52 km/h 18.1 mm Very low 1
25 Aug after 17.1 °C 86 % 42 km/h 37.7 mm Very low 0

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 23.3, a minimum humidity of 43% and 21 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 17.

FWI at the start 23.3
Minimum humidity 43 %
Days without rain 21
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Quyquyho fire, June 2024
1,552 ha 2 days FWI 24.5 Min. humidity 41 % 45 km away, in 2024

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 21.9 mm on 16 Jun.

What happened to them

6 days
median duration
2,598 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
9.0 mm
rain at the end (median; 16 of 17 had it)

It was 2.3 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 19 days, against 6 days.

Only 3 of its 17 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 1 of 17, 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 9.0 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

37.7 mmfirst rain
25 Augthe day after it ended
63km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 24 Aug, and on 25 Aug 37.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 16 of 17, with a median of 9.0 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 · 30 Jul 2021
After · 31 Aug 2021

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 · 349Every 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 Paraguay

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Villa Oliva fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 6 August 2021 to 24 August 2021 (19 days). The perimeter dates it from 13 August 2021 to 24 August 2021.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,884 hectares (58.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Villa Oliva (5,605 ha, 3.5 %); Quiindy (257 ha, 0.4 %); Caapucu (51 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.2 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 63 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 71, class Very extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Paraguay (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: 17. Their median duration was 6 days and their median area 2,598 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 3 of its 17 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 1 of 17, 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 9.0 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: 132 · 911 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Start date: 13 August 2021 → 6 August 2021.

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 132 · 911.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 13 August 2021 to 24 August 2021. 349 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 2020, 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 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). 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.