The mountain is burning.
If you are near the fire, read this page in Spanish — it carries the instructions that matter. This version is for everyone else.
Updated the night of Sunday 20 September 2026. The situation changes by the hour — verify before acting on anything here.
Where you can actually give
This page tells you who is receiving donations and what for. It will never tell you where to send them: no bank account, no QR code, no payment link. That is blocked by design, not an omission.
For this cause we collect only on vaki.co: in the Fundación Vaki emergency fund and in the verified vakis shown on this site, each with the organisation that runs it named. If a contribution did not go through one of them, it did not go through us.
We say this out loud because of the gap it leaves: in Colombia any mobile number is a payment address. This page does publish contact phones so you can call and confirm. Those numbers are for asking questions, never for sending money — even if the person answering tells you otherwise.
The fund will be announced here as soon as it opens. Until then this page collects nothing.
The only places this page will ever send you to donate are the Fundación Vaki emergency fund and the verified vakis on vaki.co shown here. Any other payment destination in this page’s name is fraud — no exceptions, whoever sends it to you.
How we verify
This page does not wait for an authority to confirm every item: that takes hours the emergency does not have. But it does not stamp a rumour as true either. The full method is published so anyone can audit it.
We never say "verified". We say what evidence exists.
- 01 Unconfirmed A single report from one person.
Anyone can create one, no account needed. It is shown with a warning and is never used to send anyone anywhere.
- 02 Multiple reports Several independent reports of the same claim.
Independent means: a different phone, separated in time, and not arrived through the same link. We show how many there are.
- 03 Confirmed on site Someone reported it while physically there, and a different person confirmed it afterwards.
Requires a phone-verified account. One voice is never enough, and never the voice of whoever asked for it to be published.
- 04 Press A news outlet quotes an official, but there is no communique we can link to.
This is the most common case in the first 48 hours and it sits one rung below official. Almost every hectare and evacuee figure lives here.
- 05 Official source A communique from the mayor’s office, UNGRD, the fire service or the state government.
The only state that says "official". It is never granted by a citizen vote.
- 06 Disputed Reports contradict each other — shown, never hidden.
A single report of "this is false" or "this is dangerous" triggers it immediately. Flagging is deliberately easier than confirming.
- 07 Expired Nobody has confirmed it in the last 12 hours.
Emergency information expires. A collection point verified yesterday is not a collection point verified today.
How strong each signal really is
We are explicit about this because a trust badge anyone can issue is worse than no badge at all.
- Weak Browser geolocation
Falsifiable in seconds. Useful for grouping reports by area, never as proof that someone was there.
- Medium Phone verified by code
It proves nothing about who you are, but it costs enough to slow down anyone trying to inflate a claim at scale.
- Medium Another person vouching
Counts only if independent. Ten confirmations from the same WhatsApp group are one voice.
- Strong Track record
Whoever previously reported things that were later confirmed weighs more. We do not need their name for that.
The two rules that are not negotiable
- Never a single voice — and never the voice of the same message asking for the claim to go up or come down. Two sources are required, and one of them cannot be whoever asked.
- Flagging is fast, taking down is slow. Casting doubt destroys nothing and protects whoever was about to act on that claim. Promoting it to a stronger state always takes longer. The asymmetry is deliberate: the expensive error is not leaving something unconfirmed, it is sending trucks and volunteers to the wrong address.
Reading never requires an account. Neither does reporting, though it is rate-limited per device. Publishing a collection point or an offer of help does require phone verification, because it is a commitment someone else will act on.
Where the fire is going
It started on Saturday 19 September around 2:00 p.m. on Cerro San Marcos, on the eastern side of the town, in the La Marmolera sector.
Prensa Figures as of Wednesday 23 September 2026, 8:00 a.m. Every one comes from press reports quoting officials, not from a communique we can link to — one rung below "official source", and to be treated as such.
- Containment
- 78 % contained, according to UNGRD, the national disaster agency, early on Wednesday 23 September — up from 75 % on Tuesday. Contained is not extinguished.
- Area
- Disputed: about 1,340 hectares according to UNGRD on 23 September — roughly 720 inside the Iguaque flora and fauna sanctuary, per the national parks service — and about 800 according to the governor after an overflight on the 22nd.
- Evacuated
- The figures do not match: 2,020 people reported on Sunday; 76 preventive evacuations plus 19 hotel guests according to UNGRD on 21–22 September.
- Damage
- Hotel Arcoíris burned on Sunday. About 10 % of the Iguaque sanctuary — home to the Andean bear and the condor, and a water source for the town — is affected, across Villa de Leyva, Chíquiza and Sáchica.
- On the ground
- 255 people according to UNGRD on 23 September; more than 400 according to the Ombudsman the day before — probably counting different things. One firefighter was injured.
- In the air
- Six helicopters from 23 September, up from three on the 22nd, when they made 75 water drops.
- Measures
- Public calamity declared, in-person classes suspended, preventive evacuations. The Villa del Cine film festival postponed its 2026 edition.
- Cause
- Deliberately set, according to a preliminary report. The Defence Ministry offers a reward of up to 45 million pesos for information. No arrests so far: an arrest circulating on social media is from a different fire.
How big is it: 800 or 1,200 hectares? En disputa
Two figures from the same day, both from officials, both quoted by the press.
About 1,200 hectares
- UNGRD, 3:06 a.m. on Tuesday 22: a preliminary estimate of about 1,200 hectares, roughly 715 of them inside the Iguaque sanctuary.
About 800 hectares
- Governor Carlos Amaya at 7:35 a.m. and the Defence Ministry at 7:59 p.m., the same day.
Why it matters
Nobody has explained the gap. On Monday the figures were 273 and 290 hectares; both were overtaken as the fire grew.
What we do with it
We show both, with their source and hour, and treat the area as a range until an official communique settles it. The same goes for "contained": it does not mean "out".
Why those are the rules
Understanding how a hillside fire is actually put out explains almost every prohibition above.
Each Bambi Bucket drop is about 3,000 litres. It does not extinguish: it cools and slows the head of the fire so ground crews can approach. A helicopter with no crews underneath controls nothing — which is why grounding air support because of a drone is so serious.
Crews cutting a control line by hand: mineral soil, nothing left to burn, around the perimeter. Machete, hoe, rake, shovel. Then comes mop-up — putting out embers and roots still burning underground. That is where "extinguished" fires reignite two days later.
Steep slope, gusting winds that jump the line, and pine plantations: resinous, highly flammable, with crowns that carry crown fire. That combination burned the hillside in hours.
It is not money or aircraft: it is relief crews and logistics. A crew is effective for six or eight hours cutting line on a slope; after that it is a hazard, not help. That is why the supply list looks modest and is exactly right.