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Copalillo fire, March 2016 Huitzuco de los Figueroa, Copalillo

Out · last detection 5 Apr 2016, 07:49 UTC

The fire started on 30 March 2016 in Copalillo, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,916 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 244th largest in Guerrero since 2016 (of 612 with a page). Number 58 in Mexico in 2016, of 208.

The power measured by the satellite is low (24.1 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
2,916ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
30 Mar 2016 – 5 Apr 2016
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
30 Mar
2016
Heat detections
92
in a single hotspot: 24 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Energy released
634MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

5 Apr 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 30 Mar5 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

303112345

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
42km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 20 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Huitzuco de los Figueroa
    1,870 ha reached on 30 Mar
    1.4 %
  2. Copalillo where it started
    1,059 ha reached on 30 Mar
    1.4 %

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)
30 Mar 35.2 °C 21 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
31 Mar 35.3 °C 21 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
1 Apr 35.7 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
2 Apr 36.9 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Apr 35.0 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
4 Apr 36.3 °C 20 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
5 Apr 36.5 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
6 Apr after 36.4 °C 24 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
7 Apr after 36.7 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
8 Apr after 36.4 °C 18 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
9 Apr after 35.8 °C 21 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
10 Apr after 35.4 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
11 Apr after 37.1 °C 21 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
12 Apr after 36.5 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
13 Apr after 37.5 °C 21 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
14 Apr after 35.7 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
15 Apr after 36.0 °C 22 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 23 Mar 2016
After · 12 Apr 2016

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 · 92Every 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 Copalillo fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 30 March 2016 and 5 April 2016: 7 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 2,916 hectares (29.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Huitzuco de los Figueroa (1,870 ha, 1.4 %); Copalillo (1,059 ha, 1.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.9 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, 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.

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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.