During the first three months of 2025, the province of Córdoba registered 39 forest and rural fires (an average of 13 per month), which affected a total area of 868 hectares.
The most critical month was January, with 461 burned hectares. In February, 380 hectares were reported and in March only 27 more.
This is the lowest record for the first quarter of the year since in 2022 a new way of counting areas affected by fire in Córdoba began.
The 868 hectares of 2025 are compared to 1,363 of 2024, 1,000 of the year 2023 and the 1,253 reported in the first quarter of 2022.
The main reason for the decline must be sought in the rains: the summer that passed has been especially rainy, especially in March. And it is clear that with more rainfall and humidity the risk of beginning and propagation of fires falls.
More in the plain than in the mountains
The three most affected departments between January and March of this year have been of the east of the provincial map: Union (with 123 burned hectares), Marcos Juárez (with 90) and San Justo (with 86).
These are regions with almost non -existence of native or forest forests and high predominance of cultivated fields.
In that quarter, the most affected type of coverage has been those of scrublands, pastures and crops.
They were low -scale spotlights: in no case exceeded 100 hectares and most were less than 50 hectares.
Since 2022, the areas affected by fire are measured in a joint work coordinated by the Ministry of Risk Management of the Province, and in which the National Commission of Space Activities (CONAE), the INTA, the Ministry of Environment and Circular Economy, the Ministry of Bioagroindustry, the Hydro-Meteorological Observatory of the Province, the Federation of Volunteer Firefighters and the Serra Group of Volunteer Firefighters participate, with the technical support of Idecor (Space data infrastructure of the province of Córdoba).
The main information input is satellite images.
The prepared report contemplates the foci that exceed the two hectares of affectation.
Climatic conditions
In terms of temperatures, the quarter from January to March was more warm than normal, with February as the hottest month, in which two important heat waves occurred in the province.
As for rainfall, January was relatively dry; In February, the rains were abundant in the center, east and provincial south, but scarce in the northwest, and in March the moisture was notoriously added and exceptional rains were added throughout the map.
But another impact condition has been that in the previous quarter (from October to December 2024) the rains were also above the historical average. Six “benevolent” months were added in terms of fire risk, after an anterior semester (from April to September 2024) characterized – by contrast – by an intense drought that favored the propagation of fires.
Every year, the first quarter numbers are those of the lowest incidence of fire in Córdoba.
The long risk season in June, when the dry season begins (with very few rains) and after the frosts resect the grassland and forestry. Between August and September, the conditions for the presence of winds and the increase in temperatures are usually aggravated, in a context of drought.
A very complicated 2024
Córdoba comes from a very complicated 2024 for fires. In the last year 103 thousand hectares were made in the province, with 578 foci detected, of more than two hectares.
It was the second worst year of the last decade, only surpassed by the sad 2020 record.
90% of 2024 incenate became in the quarter of July, August and September. By far, September was the month of greatest affectation in 2024.
The impact of fires is severe in environmental and economic matters.
Their effects are not measured only by what is burned every year but because of its cumulative volume: in the last 10 years the flames swept 760 thousand hectares, and if the last two decades are counted, the figure climbs almost 1.6 million hectares, which represents 10% of the total area of the provincial territory.
By 2025, it is speculated that the season of greatest risk will be postponed at the beginning, given the high level of humidity recorded in autumn.
But, at the same time, that first rainy trimester will make the plant fuel mass greater than usual later.
