Wildfire near Esmeralda, Cuba (2026)

Wildfire near Esmeralda — Sentinel-2 true color

Wildfire near Esmeralda — Sentinel-2 SWIR (fuego)

True view Fire view

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True view (left): as the eye sees it.
Fire view (right): infrared (SWIR), sees through smoke and brings out the heat.

🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 brown = already burned
🟠 orange = fire right now

Drag to compare: normal photo on the left, heat brought out on the right.

Green: vegetationBrown: already burnedOrange: fire right nowSentinel-2 · Copernicus

The story so far

Summary written on Jul 29, while the fire was still active. It has since ended — the figures above are current.

Burning near Esmeralda, Cuba, an active 130 ha (321 acres) wildfire that started on July 28, 2026, continues to show moderate satellite heat intensity from its peak fire radiative power.

Satellites are picking up five heat signatures clustering nearby over the last 48 hours, indicating the current spread of the fire.

In context

This wildfire burned in Cuba for 2 days. In total it burned about 130 ha (321 acres) — around 1.3 km². That size is an estimate from satellite hotspots, not a measured area.

Close to the tropics, fires tend to follow the dry season and are often linked to land-clearing rather than a single summer peak.