Chilchota fire, April 2021 Purépero, Chilchota, Tangancícuaro
The fire started on 16 April 2021 in Chilchota, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,949 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 12th largest in Michoacan de Ocampo since 2016 (of 111 with a page). Number 81 in Mexico in 2021, of 295.
- Burnt area
- 3,949ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 16 Apr 2021 – 26 Apr 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 16 Apr
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 175
- in a single hotspot: 248 MW
- Danger at start
- 36
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.5GW
- 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.
This area had burned before
69% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 603 ha in 2016, 776 ha in 2017, 1,453 ha in 2019, 871 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,708 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
2,030 ha reached on 16 Apr10 %
-
Chilchota where it started1,248 ha reached on 16 Apr4.1 %
-
692 ha reached on 21 Apr1.8 %
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.
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 Apr | 27.9 °C | 18 % | 40 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 36 |
| 17 Apr | 27.8 °C | 12 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 18 Apr | 27.1 °C | 9 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 19 Apr | 26.7 °C | 12 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 20 Apr | 27.3 °C | 10 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 21 Apr | 28.4 °C | 11 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 22 Apr | 26.8 °C | 14 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 23 Apr | 27.6 °C | 15 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 24 Apr | 27.1 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 25 Apr | 28.3 °C | 18 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 26 Apr | 28.3 °C | 22 % | 36 km/h | 1.5 mm | High 25 |
| 27 Apr after | 28.6 °C | 16 % | 36 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 37 |
| 28 Apr after | 28.5 °C | 20 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 29 Apr after | 28.1 °C | 20 % | 41 km/h | 0.4 mm | Very high 40 |
| 30 Apr after | 27.3 °C | 19 % | 46 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 42 |
| 1 May after | 26.1 °C | 21 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 2 May after | 26.3 °C | 14 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 3 May after | 26.5 °C | 14 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 4 May after | 27.0 °C | 15 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 5 May after | 29.6 °C | 17 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 6 May after | 26.5 °C | 21 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 7 May after | 27.3 °C | 21 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
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 · 175Every 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 Chilchota fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 April 2021 and 26 April 2021: 11 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 3,949 hectares (39.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Purépero (2,030 ha, 10 %); Chilchota (1,248 ha, 4.1 %); Tangancícuaro (692 ha, 1.8 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.6 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, 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.