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Acala fire, March 2019 Chiapa de Corzo, Acala, Zinacantán

Out · last detection 10 May 2019, 19:10 UTC

The fire started on 28 March 2019 in Acala, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 44 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 8,616 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 municipalities.

It is the 7th largest in Chiapas since 2016 (of 267 with a page). Number 31 in Mexico in 2019, of 364.

Compare with…

Suggestions: San Lucas · 2018Chiapa de Corzo · 2018Totolapa · 2019Venustiano Carranza · 2026

Burnt area
8,616ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
44days
28 Mar 2019 – 10 May 2019
Municipalities hit
4
municipalities
Started on
28 Mar
2019
Heat detections
470
in a single hotspot: 59 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Average daily power
105MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 28 Mar10 May
10 May 2019

How it evolved, day by day

28 Mar 2019 · 2 MW · 3 30 Mar 2019 · 18 MW · 2 31 Mar 2019 · 1 MW · 1 1 Apr 2019 · 5 MW · 1 3 Apr 2019 · 7 MW · 4 4 Apr 2019 · 5 MW · 3 5 Apr 2019 · 97 MW · 21 6 Apr 2019 · 51 MW · 13 7 Apr 2019 · 47 MW · 8 8 Apr 2019 · 48 MW · 12 10 Apr 2019 · 68 MW · 9 11 Apr 2019 · 467 MW · 57 12 Apr 2019 · 660 MW · 62 13 Apr 2019 · 686 MW · 61 14 Apr 2019 · 504 MW · 66 15 Apr 2019 · 58 MW · 16 16 Apr 2019 · 10 MW · 6 17 Apr 2019 · 36 MW · 4 19 Apr 2019 · 542 MW · 25 20 Apr 2019 · 30 MW · 6 21 Apr 2019 · 10 MW · 2 22 Apr 2019 · 31 MW · 7 23 Apr 2019 · 32 MW · 9 24 Apr 2019 · 7 MW · 4 25 Apr 2019 · 11 MW · 5 27 Apr 2019 · 13 MW · 2 29 Apr 2019 · 29 MW · 4 30 Apr 2019 · 5 MW · 5 1 May 2019 · 2 MW · 1 2 May 2019 · 31 MW · 3 3 May 2019 · 44 MW · 17 4 May 2019 · 139 MW · 13 5 May 2019 · 18 MW · 8 7 May 2019 · 19 MW · 5 9 May 2019 · 28 MW · 3 10 May 2019 · 7 MW · 2
28 Mar 5 Apr 12 Apr 13 Apr 19 Apr 25 Apr 3 May

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

37°high
62km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 15 May.

This area had burned before

12% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,056 ha in 2018.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 5.4% of the area of London (86 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Chiapa de Corzo
    4,832 ha reached on 7 Apr
    5.8 %
  2. Acala where it started
    2,196 ha reached on 3 Apr
    4.5 %
  3. Zinacantán
    990 ha reached on 28 Mar
    5.1 %
  4. Ixtapa
    649 ha reached on 28 Mar
    2.3 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
28 Mar 30.0 °C 36 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
29 Mar 32.6 °C 32 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
30 Mar 34.6 °C 30 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
31 Mar 33.9 °C 30 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
1 Apr 28.5 °C 54 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
2 Apr 28.6 °C 51 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
3 Apr 32.7 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
4 Apr 34.4 °C 32 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
5 Apr 33.1 °C 39 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
6 Apr 33.5 °C 40 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
7 Apr 35.5 °C 32 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
8 Apr 31.9 °C 41 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
9 Apr 31.8 °C 44 % 46 km/h 0.1 mm High 33
10 Apr 35.3 °C 16 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
11 Apr 35.8 °C 27 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
12 Apr 34.9 °C 20 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
13 Apr 34.3 °C 22 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
14 Apr 33.5 °C 29 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
15 Apr 31.7 °C 41 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Apr 33.4 °C 37 % 37 km/h 0.2 mm High 33
17 Apr 34.1 °C 38 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm High 31
18 Apr 35.2 °C 33 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
19 Apr 29.3 °C 39 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
20 Apr 33.5 °C 29 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
21 Apr 35.3 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
22 Apr 35.2 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
23 Apr 35.7 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
24 Apr 36.3 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Apr 34.0 °C 39 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
26 Apr 31.7 °C 46 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
27 Apr 31.5 °C 46 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
28 Apr 34.6 °C 33 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm High 32
29 Apr 36.0 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
30 Apr 35.4 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
1 May 34.1 °C 33 % 35 km/h 0.3 mm High 37
2 May 32.9 °C 43 % 28 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 20
3 May 33.9 °C 40 % 26 km/h 2.7 mm Moderate 12
4 May 35.2 °C 39 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
5 May 34.1 °C 41 % 27 km/h 4.8 mm Low 6
6 May 35.6 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.5 mm High 24
7 May 35.9 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
8 May 36.6 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
9 May 35.9 °C 36 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
10 May 34.2 °C 41 % 32 km/h 0.3 mm High 29
11 May after 34.8 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.6 mm High 24
12 May after 34.6 °C 39 % 28 km/h 0.2 mm High 25
13 May after 35.5 °C 38 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
14 May after 34.3 °C 40 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
15 May after 33.1 °C 46 % 34 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 18

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 21 Mar 2019
After · 17 May 2019

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 470Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Mexico ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Acala fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 28 March 2019 to 10 May 2019 (44 days). The perimeter dates it from 4 April 2019 to 5 May 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 8,616 hectares (86.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 4 municipalities: Chiapa de Corzo (4,832 ha, 5.8 %); Acala (2,196 ha, 4.5 %); Zinacantán (990 ha, 5.1 %); Ixtapa (649 ha, 2.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.6 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 62 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mexico (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Emergency number: 911 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 5 May 2019 → 10 May 2019.
  2. Start date: 4 April 2019 → 28 March 2019.

RSS Changes to this page

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

Report an error
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We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 911.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 3 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 4 April 2019 to 5 May 2019. 470 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

Where this data comes from

The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.