English: Dozens of fires burned across Ecuador in early November 2016. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image of the situation on November 1.

Each red hotspot marks an area where the thermal bands on the MODIS instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as can be seen in this image at higher resolution, such hotspots are diagnostic for actively burning fire.

The fire season in Ecuador follows the end of the wet season, typically occurring in the drier months of autumn and winter. Since Ecuador sits on the equator, the seasons are not as marked as in some areas with the climate being controlled more by elevation and location in the country rather than latitude. For example, the Andes Mountains, which are covered in cloud in this image, tend to be moist year-round. For the coastal areas and lowlands, July through November tends to be the drier months with fire hazard increasing through November.

According to a report by the government’s Technical Management Team Monitoring Adverse Events report of October 20, 2016 accessed via ReliefWeb, forest fires greater than 5 hectares in size have resulted in the loss of 9,815 hectares of vegetation in 360 registered events. The provinces with the most fires are Imbabura Loja, Azuay, El Oro and Chimborazo. Sixteen injuries have been reported due to these fires.