Acatepec fire, April 2026 Quechultenango, Acatepec, Ayutla de los Libres
The fire started on 12 April 2026 in Acatepec, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,383 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 83th largest in Guerrero since 2016 (of 612 with a page). Number 7 in Mexico in 2026, of 145.
- Burnt area
- 5,383ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 7days
- 12 Apr 2026 – 18 Apr 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 12 Apr
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 162
- in a single hotspot: 35 MW
- Danger at start
- 19
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.1GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.2 mm on 19 Apr.
This area had burned before
65% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 129 ha in 2018, 1,794 ha in 2019, 97 ha in 2020, 2,782 ha in 2021, 258 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,503 ha that had burned before.
- 2,782 ha Quechultenango fire, February 2021 3,002 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,769 ha Quechultenango fire, March 2019 2,250 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 129 ha Ayutla de los Libres fire, April 2018 2,548 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 124 ha Ayutla de los Libres fire, May 2022 3,085 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 97 ha Acatepec fire, May 2020 1,577 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 25 ha Quechultenango fire, May 2019 3,324 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
4,611 ha reached on 14 Apr5.4 %
-
Acatepec where it started635 ha reached on 12 Apr1.0 %
-
164 ha reached on 15 Apr0.2 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Apr | 33.8 °C | 42 % | 35 km/h | 0.5 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 13 Apr | 35.2 °C | 37 % | 30 km/h | 1.3 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 14 Apr | 34.4 °C | 42 % | 40 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 23 |
| 15 Apr | 34.3 °C | 28 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 16 Apr | 35.0 °C | 24 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 17 Apr | 34.4 °C | 23 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 18 Apr | 33.8 °C | 35 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 19 Apr after | 32.0 °C | 50 % | 34 km/h | 4.2 mm | Low 5 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 15 April 2026 the air beside the fire reached 41 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 28: 1.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 162Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Acatepec fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 12 April 2026 and 18 April 2026: 7 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,383 hectares (53.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Quechultenango (4,611 ha, 5.4 %); Acatepec (635 ha, 1.0 %); Ayutla de los Libres (164 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.2 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, class 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
Satellite cross-check
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
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.