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Wildfires in Costa Rica
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-11 08:31 UTC
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Regions
- Alajuela1 fire
- Cartagono fires now
- Guanacasteno fires now
- Herediano fires now
- Limónno fires now
- Puntarenasno fires now
- San Joséno fires now
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Fire history, 2012–2025
Detected · VIIRS S-NPP 375 m · 0.01° cells (~1.1 km) · complete years 2012–2025 · built 2026-09-21
Between 2012 and 2025, VIIRS detected fire in 16,400 km² of Costa Rica at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 3,130 km², ranking 91st of 200 countries.
Year by year
Detected area per year, km². Area of 0.01° cells with at least one detection in the year.
The busiest year was 2013, with 4,540 km² detected; the quietest was 2025, with 1,350 km². The 2021–2025 average is 40% lower than the 2012–2016 average.
Through the year
Share of all fire-days 2012–2025 by month. A fire-day is one cell with a detection on one day.
February, March and April together hold 83% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 10 April 2016, with detections in 166 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 16,400 km² with at least one detection, 37% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 7,000 | 43% |
| 2 years | 3,320 | 20% |
| 3 to 5 years | 4,170 | 25% |
| 6 to 10 years | 1,800 | 11% |
| 11 years or more | 117 | 0.7% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at 10.25, -85.75 and holds 17% of the country's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 3,400 | 3,906 |
| 2013 | 4,540 | 5,560 |
| 2014 | 3,870 | 4,398 |
| 2015 | 3,540 | 4,359 |
| 2016 | 3,950 | 4,845 |
| 2017 | 2,700 | 3,087 |
| 2018 | 3,060 | 3,694 |
| 2019 | 3,750 | 4,526 |
| 2020 | 3,330 | 3,899 |
| 2021 | 1,700 | 1,795 |
| 2022 | 2,930 | 3,630 |
| 2023 | 2,140 | 2,181 |
| 2024 | 3,540 | 4,134 |
| 2025 | 1,350 | 1,435 |
Nearby countries
- Mexico139,170 km² in an average year
- United States133,530 km² in an average year
- Canada57,580 km² in an average year
- Honduras25,150 km² in an average year
- Nicaragua20,510 km² in an average year
- Guatemala19,060 km² in an average year
- How these figures are madeDetected area, cells, and the single-satellite record.
Detected area counts every 0.01° cell with at least one VIIRS detection, so a small fire counts as a whole cell and a fire missed by cloud or between passes is absent. Borders: Natural Earth 1:10m. 2012 begins on 20 January.
Nearby countries
What sits behind each of these fires
Attached to every fire in the list above, and redrawn hourly.
