Bacalar fire, June 2019 Hopelchén, Bacalar
The fire started on 16 June 2019 in Bacalar, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,235 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 3th largest in Quintana Roo since 2016 (of 40 with a page). Number 43 in Mexico in 2019, of 364.
- Burnt area
- 6,235ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 12days
- 16 Jun 2019 – 27 Jun 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 16 Jun
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 345
- in a single hotspot: 125 MW
- Danger at start
- 21
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 6.1GW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.5 mm on 29 Jun.
This area had burned before
27% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,671 ha in 2017.
What happened to each town
-
Hopelchén 42,140 inhabitants4,021 ha reached on 19 Jun0.5 %
-
2,240 ha reached on 16 Jun0.4 %
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, 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 4,045 ha (the satellite measured 6,235 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
- Hopelchén ChunEk 24 June 2019 3,087 ha · extinguished on 29 June 2019 · cause: negligence
- Bacalar Balam Kaáx 19 June 2019 958 ha · extinguished on 3 July 2019 · cause: negligence
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Jun | 36.8 °C | 40 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 17 Jun | 36.9 °C | 42 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 18 Jun | 38.0 °C | 38 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 19 Jun | 37.2 °C | 47 % | 48 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 22 |
| 20 Jun | 37.5 °C | 46 % | 52 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 24 |
| 21 Jun | 36.7 °C | 47 % | 59 km/h | 1.0 mm | High 25 |
| 22 Jun | 34.9 °C | 45 % | 59 km/h | 1.0 mm | High 23 |
| 23 Jun | 37.2 °C | 35 % | 63 km/h | 0.8 mm | High 35 |
| 24 Jun | 38.3 °C | 34 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 25 Jun | 37.8 °C | 33 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 26 Jun | 39.7 °C | 26 % | 49 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 41 |
| 27 Jun | 36.6 °C | 39 % | 42 km/h | 2.9 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 28 Jun after | 35.9 °C | 44 % | 45 km/h | 3.5 mm | Low 11 |
| 29 Jun after | 33.7 °C | 49 % | 38 km/h | 4.5 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.
Detections table · 345Every 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 Bacalar fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 June 2019 and 27 June 2019: 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 6,235 hectares (62.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Hopelchén (4,021 ha, 0.5 %); Bacalar (2,240 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 39.7 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 63 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, 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.