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Bacoachi fire, June 2017 Bacoachi, Fronteras

Out · last detection 14 Jun 2017, 08:29 UTC

The fire started on 9 June 2017 in Bacoachi, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,246 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 29th largest in Sonora since 2016 (of 93 with a page). Number 57 in Mexico in 2017, of 375.

Burnt area
5,246ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
6days
9 Jun 2017 – 14 Jun 2017
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
9 Jun
2017
Heat detections
366
in a single hotspot: 201 MW
Danger at start
56
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
6.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

14 Jun 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 9 Jun14 Jun

How it evolved, day by day

91011121314

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
59km/h · peak gust
6%lowest humidity

It had gone 30 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 22 Jun.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Bacoachi where it started
    4,687 ha reached on 9 Jun
    3.8 %
  2. Fronteras
    583 ha reached on 11 Jun
    0.2 %

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.

Official record

According to CONAFOR, this fire started on 10 June 2017 and burned 3,359 ha (the satellite measured 5,246 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.

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)
9 Jun 33.7 °C 16 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
10 Jun 33.3 °C 8 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
11 Jun 30.9 °C 16 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
12 Jun 31.7 °C 15 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
13 Jun 33.9 °C 8 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
14 Jun 36.6 °C 6 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
15 Jun after 37.2 °C 5 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
16 Jun after 36.4 °C 7 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
17 Jun after 36.8 °C 8 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
18 Jun after 38.7 °C 9 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
19 Jun after 40.8 °C 9 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
20 Jun after 39.2 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.1 mm Extreme 54
21 Jun after 39.0 °C 13 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
22 Jun after 38.0 °C 19 % 55 km/h 1.0 mm Extreme 61

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 2 Jun 2017
After · 21 Jun 2017

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 · 366Every 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 Bacoachi fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 June 2017 and 14 June 2017: 6 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 5,246 hectares (52.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Bacoachi (4,687 ha, 3.8 %); Fronteras (583 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.6 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 59 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 66, class Extreme.
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
What do you think is wrong?

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.

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.