The fire started on 23 May 2024 in Balleza, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,605 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 211th largest in Chihuahua since 2016 (of 229 with a page). Number 269 in Mexico in 2024, of 289.
matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Burned area
with caveats
1,605ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
This page1,605CONAFOR2,886
Source
GWIS (Copernicus)
Date
23 May 2024 – 3 Jun 2024
+− cross-check
CONAFOR: 2,886 ha (matched records: 1). Difference between the page and the official record: −44.4%. Matched on 1 November 2026. The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Duration by satellite
satellite only
12days
23 May 2024 to 3 Jun 2024: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 3 Jun 2024, 19:33 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only
23 May 2024
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
23 May 2024
+− cross-check
The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Hotspots
satellite only
179
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 235 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP + NOAA-20)
Date
23 May 2024 – 3 Jun 2024
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only
1,441MW
Total radiative power on 26 May 2024; hotspots that day: 29.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
26 May 2024
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model
72.8FWI · very extreme
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 60.
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings ›
Weather during the fire
model
32.2°C · 12% RH
High of 32.2 °C and minimum humidity of 12% on 2 June 2024; gusts of 63 km/h on 23 May 2024.
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
ⓘThis page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
log
Last day with fire: 29 May 2024 → 3 June 2024.
· reconstructedweather
Weather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official CONAFOR record
Nearby records with very different figures: 2,886 ha (records: 1).
A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
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 area0.17ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there were about 0.17 hectares of built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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.
According to CONAFOR, this fire started on 23 May 2024 and burned 2,886 ha (the satellite measured 1,605 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
BallezaP.P. El Nopal, P.P. Boca del Cañon, P.P. Alto del Gato, P.P. Arroyo del Maiz, P.P. El Granizo, P.P. Mesa del Maguey, P.P. Bajios del Aguaje (Cabeza de Venado)23 May 20242,886 ha· extinguished on 7 June 2024· cause: arson
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)
It started with an FWI of 72.8, a minimum humidity of 14% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 10.
FWI at the start72.8
Minimum humidity14 %
Days without rain60+
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Balleza fire, 23 May 2024
1,605 ha12 daysFWI 72.8Min. humidity 14 %
Guerrero fire, March 2025
3,564 ha6 daysFWI 69.5Min. humidity 18 %221 km away, in 2025
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Fires in the area that started in similar weather: 10. With fewer than 15 we give no figures: they would be more noise than signal.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
2.5 mmfirst rain
7 Jun4 days after it ended
63km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 3 Jun, and on 7 Jun 2.5 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 16 May 2024
After · 10 Jun 2024
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 28 May 2024 the air beside the fire reached 20 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak20µg/m³
Days over the guideline0days
PM1030µg/m³
Optical depth0.25
WHO 15
22 May24 May26 May28 May30 May
GoodFairModeratePoorVery poorExtremely 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· 179Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.›
⬇ Download CSVTimes in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 23 May 2024 to 3 June 2024 (12 days). The perimeter dates it from 24 May 2024 to 27 May 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 1,605 hectares (16.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Balleza (1,609 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.2 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 63 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 73, class Very 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.
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 errorHow we know this›
Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 24 May 2024 to 27 May 2024. 179 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with CONAFOR: 2,886 official ha against 1,605 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.
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.