How long did the Azoyú fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 10 April 2024 to 6 May 2024 (27 days). The perimeter dates it from 11 April 2024 to 5 May 2024.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 8,513 hectares (85.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 3 municipalities: Azoyú (5,393 ha, 14 %); Igualapa (2,239 ha, 11 %); San Luis Acatlán (931 ha, 0.8 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 39.0 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, 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.

MX · Mexico · 2024-04-10 → 2024-05-06

Azoyú fire, April 2024 Azoyú, Igualapa, San Luis Acatlán

Out · last detection 6 May 2024, 19:30 UTC

The fire started on 10 April 2024 in Azoyú, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 27 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 8,513 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 41th largest in Guerrero since 2016 (of 612 with a page). Number 17 in Mexico in 2024, of 289.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Azoyú · 2021 Igualapa · 2017 Azoyú · 2017 Igualapa · 2021

Burnt area: 8,513ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 27days; 10 Apr 2024 – 6 May 2024
Municipalities hit: 3; municipalities
Started on: 10 Apr; 2024
Heat detections: 570; in a single hotspot: 75 MW
Danger at start: 35; High · FWI index
Average daily power: 227MW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 Apr6 May

Play back 6 May 2024

How it evolved, day by day

10 Apr 14 Apr 18 Apr 22 Apr 26 Apr 30 Apr 4 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

39°high

42km/h · peak gust

23%lowest humidity

It had gone 52 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

68% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,873 ha in 2017, 2,593 ha in 2019, 3,909 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,771 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 5.4% of the area of London (85 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

Azoyú where it started

5,393 ha reached on 10 Apr

14 %
Igualapa

2,239 ha reached on 23 Apr

11 %
San Luis Acatlán

931 ha reached on 27 Apr

0.8 %

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.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025

Built-up area0.71 ha

Residents≈ 70

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.71 hectares of built-up land and about 70 residents (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

Official record

Several official records match this area

According to CONAFOR, 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 13,034 ha (the satellite measured 8,513 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.

CONAFOR records each fire that started at a different time or place separately; the satellite sees a single burned area, so this page groups them together. The numbers on the map show where each one started.

When each one burned

1 4,516 ha 2 8,519 ha

8 Apr29 May

negligence cause unknown or not published

1 Azoyú Río Quetzalapa 8 April 2024 4,516 ha · extinguished on 29 April 2024 · cause: negligence
2 Igualapa Acalmani / Quetzalapa 29 April 2024 8,519 ha · extinguished on 30 May 2024 · cause: unknown

Total according to CONAFOR: 13,034 ha, 153 % of the 8,513 ha in the satellite perimeter.

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)
10 Apr	36.6 °C	37 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
11 Apr	36.3 °C	40 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
12 Apr	37.9 °C	36 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
13 Apr	39.0 °C	30 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
14 Apr	38.3 °C	29 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
15 Apr	38.2 °C	31 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
16 Apr	38.3 °C	34 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
17 Apr	37.7 °C	34 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
18 Apr	37.4 °C	38 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
19 Apr	37.4 °C	33 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
20 Apr	36.9 °C	31 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
21 Apr	36.7 °C	33 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
22 Apr	37.2 °C	34 %	40 km/h	0.1 mm	High 38
23 Apr	37.7 °C	31 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
24 Apr	38.3 °C	23 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
25 Apr	38.9 °C	25 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
26 Apr	36.9 °C	35 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
27 Apr	35.5 °C	36 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
28 Apr	36.5 °C	28 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
29 Apr	36.4 °C	30 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
30 Apr	37.4 °C	30 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
1 May	37.7 °C	32 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
2 May	37.5 °C	34 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
3 May	36.6 °C	39 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
4 May	36.7 °C	37 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
5 May	36.6 °C	40 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
6 May	37.2 °C	40 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
7 May after	35.7 °C	44 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
8 May after	35.7 °C	43 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
9 May after	35.0 °C	42 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
10 May after	35.9 °C	32 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
11 May after	35.7 °C	27 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
12 May after	36.9 °C	27 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
13 May after	36.8 °C	32 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
14 May after	36.5 °C	40 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
15 May after	37.4 °C	37 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
16 May after	36.4 °C	41 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 3 Apr 2024

After · 13 May 2024

Before After

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 · Copernicus

On 23 April 2024 the air beside the fire reached 39 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 32: 2.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak39 µg/m³

Days over the guideline21 days

PM1058 µg/m³

Optical depth1.00

WHO 15

910111213141516171819202122232425262728293012345678

Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

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 · 570Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Mexico ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Azoyú fire last?: According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 10 April 2024 to 6 May 2024 (27 days). The perimeter dates it from 11 April 2024 to 5 May 2024.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 8,513 hectares (85.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 3 municipalities: Azoyú (5,393 ha, 14 %); Igualapa (2,239 ha, 11 %); San Luis Acatlán (931 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 39.0 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, 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 ›

CONAFOR · Comisión Nacional Forestal ↗
CENAPRED ↗

Satellite cross-check

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

25 October 2026 Last day with fire: 5 May 2024 → 6 May 2024.
25 October 2026 Start date: 11 April 2024 → 10 April 2024.

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

What do you think is wrong?

Dates or duration Place or towns Burned area Name It was not a wildfire Same fire as another page Something else

What really happened?

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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; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 11 April 2024 to 5 May 2024. 570 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with CONAFOR: 13,034 official ha against 8,513 ha of perimeter; similar, but with reservations.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

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.

Where it burned