Bocoyna fire, May 2021 Carichí, Bocoyna, Guerrero
The fire started on 26 May 2021 in Bocoyna, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 25 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 10,258 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 21th largest in Chihuahua since 2016 (of 234 with a page). Number 9 in Mexico in 2021, of 295.
Compare with…
- Burnt area
- 10,258ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 25days
- 26 May 2021 – 19 Jun 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 26 May
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 778
- in a single hotspot: 222 MW
- Danger at start
- 34
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 884MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 12 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.6 mm on 21 Jun.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
4,935 ha reached on 30 May1.9 %
-
Bocoyna where it started3,975 ha reached on 26 May1.5 %
-
1,397 ha reached on 1 Jun0.2 %
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 2020Inside the perimeter there were about 1.2 hectares of built-up land and about 90 residents (GHSL 2020, 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.
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
Several official records match this area
According to CONAFOR, 5 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 6,931 ha (the satellite measured 10,258 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.
- 1 Bocoyna Ej. Talayotes 26 May 2021 144 ha · extinguished on 27 May 2021 · cause: arson
- 2 Carichí Ej. Arroyo de la Cabeza, Ej. Molinares, Ej. Cojahuachi, Ej. Sisoguichi Amp. Huirinima, P.P. Varios 29 May 2021 1,617 ha · extinguished on 3 June 2021 · cause: arson
- 3 Carichí Ej. Molinares, Ej. Cajurichi, Ej. Arroyo de la Cabeza, Ej. Sisoguichi Amp. Hurinima, Ej. Talayotes y Ej. San Juanito 5 June 2021 4,918 ha · extinguished on 18 June 2021 · cause: arson
- 4 Carichí Ej. Molinares 6 June 2021 202 ha · extinguished on 8 June 2021 · cause: arson
- 5 Carichí P.P. Varios 11 June 2021 50 ha · extinguished on 13 June 2021 · cause: arson
Total according to CONAFOR: 6,931 ha, 68 % of the 10,258 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 May | 25.4 °C | 15 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 27 May | 26.2 °C | 18 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 28 May | 26.7 °C | 14 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 29 May | 26.5 °C | 12 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 30 May | 24.8 °C | 17 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 31 May | 24.6 °C | 16 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 1 Jun | 25.4 °C | 16 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 2 Jun | 22.0 °C | 27 % | 49 km/h | 1.6 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 3 Jun | 20.2 °C | 28 % | 38 km/h | 1.9 mm | Low 10 |
| 4 Jun | 22.8 °C | 26 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 5 Jun | 23.7 °C | 21 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 6 Jun | 25.5 °C | 24 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 7 Jun | 26.5 °C | 19 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 8 Jun | 27.7 °C | 23 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 9 Jun | 30.4 °C | 22 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 10 Jun | 30.5 °C | 19 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 11 Jun | 32.1 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 12 Jun | 30.3 °C | 17 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 13 Jun | 28.0 °C | 13 % | 62 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 14 Jun | 27.6 °C | 19 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 15 Jun | 25.1 °C | 25 % | 50 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 41 |
| 16 Jun | 26.1 °C | 25 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 17 Jun | 24.5 °C | 28 % | 48 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 38 |
| 18 Jun | 25.4 °C | 21 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 19 Jun | 28.0 °C | 18 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 20 Jun after | 27.7 °C | 21 % | 46 km/h | 0.5 mm | Very high 42 |
| 21 Jun after | 28.7 °C | 26 % | 41 km/h | 1.6 mm | High 24 |
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 · 778Every 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 Bocoyna fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 26 May 2021 to 19 June 2021 (25 days). The perimeter dates it from 29 May 2021 to 15 June 2021.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 10,258 hectares (102.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Carichí (4,935 ha, 1.9 %); Bocoyna (3,975 ha, 1.5 %); Guerrero (1,397 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.1 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 62 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 50, 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 · Emergency number and official warnings ›
Satellite cross-check
History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
- Last day with fire: 15 June 2021 → 19 June 2021.
- Start date: 29 May 2021 → 26 May 2021.
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
How 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 29 May 2021 to 15 June 2021. 778 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- Compared with CONAFOR: 6,931 official ha against 10,258 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 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.