Ajuchitlán del Progreso fire, 15 April 2021 Ajuchitlán del Progreso
The fire started on 15 April 2021 in Ajuchitlán del Progreso, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,466 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 80th largest in Guerrero since 2016 (of 612 with a page). Number 42 in Mexico in 2021, of 295.
The power measured by the satellite is low (27.2 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 5,466ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 12days
- 15 Apr 2021 – 26 Apr 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 15 Apr
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 229
- in a single hotspot: 27 MW
- Danger at start
- 37
- High · 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 more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
99% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 647 ha in 2016, 4,412 ha in 2017, 9 ha in 2018, 4,792 ha in 2019, 2,598 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,420 ha that had burned before.
- 4,792 ha Ajuchitlán del Progreso fire, May 2019 34,994 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,412 ha Coyuca de Catalán fire, March 2017 43,113 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,561 ha Ajuchitlán del Progreso fire, April 2020 5,312 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,009 ha Ajuchitlán del Progreso fire, May 2020 1,697 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 647 ha Ajuchitlán del Progreso fire, April 2016 1,799 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 28 ha Ajuchitlán del Progreso fire, May 2020 1,674 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 9 ha Ajuchitlán del Progreso fire, April 2018 1,815 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Ajuchitlán del Progreso where it started5,495 ha reached on 12 Apr2.7 %
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.
Official record
According to CONAFOR, this fire started on 14 April 2021 and burned 1,907 ha (the satellite measured 5,466 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
- Ajuchitlán del Progreso Ejido Pitzotla 14 April 2021 1,907 ha · extinguished on 28 April 2021 · cause: unknown
CONAFOR (Comisión Nacional Forestal), estadística de incendios forestales en datos.gob.mx (CC BY 4.0). This is the agency’s consolidated statistic: it measures the area in its own way, which is why it can differ from the satellite.
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 | 31.9 °C | 19 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 13 Apr | 32.5 °C | 20 % | 31 km/h | 0.9 mm | High 29 |
| 14 Apr | 31.7 °C | 23 % | 35 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 33 |
| 15 Apr | 33.3 °C | 13 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 16 Apr | 33.2 °C | 9 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 17 Apr | 32.2 °C | 17 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 18 Apr | 31.2 °C | 12 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 19 Apr | 30.8 °C | 14 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 20 Apr | 31.0 °C | 14 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 21 Apr | 31.8 °C | 18 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 22 Apr | 30.9 °C | 19 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 23 Apr | 30.9 °C | 21 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 24 Apr | 31.3 °C | 22 % | 36 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 39 |
| 25 Apr | 32.1 °C | 22 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 26 Apr | 32.5 °C | 19 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 27 Apr after | 33.0 °C | 19 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 28 Apr after | 31.7 °C | 23 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 29 Apr after | 31.1 °C | 24 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 30 Apr after | 30.5 °C | 25 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 1 May after | 30.9 °C | 23 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 2 May after | 30.5 °C | 23 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 3 May after | 29.7 °C | 24 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 4 May after | 30.2 °C | 19 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 5 May after | 31.7 °C | 15 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 6 May after | 31.9 °C | 23 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 7 May after | 30.9 °C | 27 % | 34 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 33 |
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.
Detections table · 229Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 15,541 haAjuchitlán del Progreso25 April 2023 · 20 days · 1 km away
- 34,994 haAjuchitlán del Progreso6 May 2019 · 19 days · 2 km away
- 18,639 haAjuchitlán del Progreso12 May 2020 · 22 days · 18 km away
- 27,274 haCoyuca de Catalán22 April 2024 · 39 days · 19 km away
- 43,113 haCoyuca de Catalán31 March 2017 · 37 days · 21 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ajuchitlán del Progreso fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 15 April 2021 and 26 April 2021: 12 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 5,466 hectares (54.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Ajuchitlán del Progreso (5,495 ha, 2.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.3 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, 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
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.