Villa de Leyva Fire: Why Colombia's 18 Wildfires Are Testing the Response
A large forest fire on the San Marcos hillside is threatening Villa de Leyva, a tourist town in central Colombia's Boyaca department.
The blaze was still active on Saturday, September 19. It has consumed 40 hectares of native forest, about 10,000 square meters per hectare, according to Al Jazeera. Smoke was visible from the town's central square. Residents said the Cerro San Marcos fire had burned for more than seven hours, as documented by El Tiempo.
Villa de Leyva attracts more than a million visitors annually. Its colonial core and surrounding hillsides place homes, businesses and visitors within close range of the hillside fire.
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella pledged to mobilise all state resources to fight the fire. Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara described the Villa de Leyva fire as the fire of greatest magnitude in the country.
The Boyaca department government is dispatching two aircraft to combat the blaze. A military helicopter and firefighters from Bogota will join the effort. Bogota Mayor Carlos Fernando Galan is sending firefighters to join local crews from Tunja and Boyaca at Villa de Leyva.
A total of 350 personnel were confirmed to help control the wildfire, according to El Tiempo. Helicopters were scheduled to arrive on Sunday, September 20 to support firefighting operations.
Colombia has 18 active wildfires across the country, according to Colombia's National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), the national disaster agency. The 2026 central Colombia wildfires are fueled by severe El Nino, a climate cycle that brings hotter and drier weather, plus record high temperatures and drought conditions. Villa de Leyva's municipal planning document states that Puerto Boyacá, Villa de Leyva and Paipa each contain two points of possible forest fire.
The broader context here is a test of layered response under simultaneous strain. A single hillside fire drawing presidential attention, ministerial coordination, departmental aircraft, a military helicopter and municipal crews from three jurisdictions must integrate quickly. The presence of 18 concurrent fires nationally limits surge capacity. For Villa de Leyva, the immediate variables to watch are aerial support and ground containment on San Marcos, smoke exposure in the urban center, and protection of native forest already lost across 40 hectares.
Looking at what this means for risk management, the identified fire points around Villa de Leyva and neighboring municipalities suggest this terrain was already mapped as vulnerable. El Nino-driven heat and drought turn that mapped vulnerability into operational pressure. How rapidly national resources arrive, how local and Bogota units divide sectors, and whether the fire holds at its current footprint will shape both the ecological cost and confidence in handling the wider fire season.
