Centla fire, August 2019 Centla, Jonuta
The fire started on 23 August 2019 in Centla, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,771 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 8th largest in Tabasco since 2016 (of 40 with a page). Number 154 in Mexico in 2019, of 364.
- Burnt area
- 2,771ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 18days
- 23 Aug 2019 – 9 Sept 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 23 Aug
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 567
- in a single hotspot: 83 MW
- Danger at start
- 7
- Low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.6GW
- 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 one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 7.6 mm on 10 Sept.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
2,000 ha reached on 23 Aug0.7 %
-
786 ha reached on 25 Aug0.5 %
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 26 August 2019 and burned 1,471 ha (the satellite measured 2,771 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
- Centla La Tijera 26 August 2019 1,471 ha · extinguished on 18 September 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Aug | 36.2 °C | 53 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 7 |
| 24 Aug | 37.6 °C | 39 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 25 Aug | 37.3 °C | 42 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 26 Aug | 36.8 °C | 44 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 27 Aug | 37.0 °C | 40 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 28 Aug | 36.8 °C | 48 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 29 Aug | 36.5 °C | 37 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 30 Aug | 35.3 °C | 48 % | 33 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 31 Aug | 33.4 °C | 63 % | 34 km/h | 5.7 mm | Very low 2 |
| 1 Sept | 33.5 °C | 55 % | 36 km/h | 1.3 mm | Low 6 |
| 2 Sept | 34.8 °C | 45 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 3 Sept | 34.4 °C | 55 % | 34 km/h | 1.2 mm | Low 9 |
| 4 Sept | 37.5 °C | 44 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 5 Sept | 37.4 °C | 36 % | 35 km/h | 1.4 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 6 Sept | 36.7 °C | 42 % | 35 km/h | 3.6 mm | Low 10 |
| 7 Sept | 34.4 °C | 47 % | 36 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 8 Sept | 34.0 °C | 50 % | 38 km/h | 16.5 mm | Very low 2 |
| 9 Sept | 35.1 °C | 49 % | 35 km/h | 2.8 mm | Very low 3 |
| 10 Sept after | 34.0 °C | 53 % | 32 km/h | 7.6 mm | Very low 1 |
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 · 567Every 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 Centla fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 August 2019 and 9 September 2019: 18 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 2,771 hectares (27.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Centla (2,000 ha, 0.7 %); Jonuta (786 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.6 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 20, class Moderate.
- 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.