Skip to content
worldfires
MX · Mexico · →

Copalillo fire, March 2019 Copalillo, Olinalá, Ixcamilpa de Guerrero

Out · last detection 30 Mar 2019, 09:09 UTC

The fire started on 24 March 2019 in Copalillo, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,620 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 276th largest in Guerrero since 2016 (of 612 with a page). Number 173 in Mexico in 2019, of 364.

Burnt area
2,620ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
24 Mar 2019 – 30 Mar 2019
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
24 Mar
2019
Heat detections
89
in a single hotspot: 51 MW
Danger at start
35
High · FWI index
Energy released
475MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

30 Mar 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 24 Mar30 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

24252627282930

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

33°high
48km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months 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. Copalillo where it started
    1,434 ha reached on 24 Mar
    2.0 %
  2. Olinalá
    909 ha reached on 24 Mar
    1.3 %
  3. Ixcamilpa de Guerrero
    293 ha reached on 24 Mar
    1.0 %

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)
24 Mar 32.1 °C 17 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
25 Mar 32.9 °C 14 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
26 Mar 31.7 °C 9 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
27 Mar 30.6 °C 13 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
28 Mar 31.2 °C 11 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Mar 32.0 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
30 Mar 31.9 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
31 Mar after 33.2 °C 17 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Apr after 31.5 °C 17 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
2 Apr after 32.2 °C 19 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
3 Apr after 31.8 °C 23 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
4 Apr after 31.2 °C 24 % 50 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 46
5 Apr after 31.8 °C 21 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
6 Apr after 29.3 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
7 Apr after 31.8 °C 19 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
8 Apr after 32.2 °C 17 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 45
9 Apr after 31.9 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
10 Apr after 32.2 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
11 Apr after 32.2 °C 18 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 17 Mar 2019
After · 6 Apr 2019

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 · 89Every 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 24 March 2019 and 30 March 2019: 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 2,620 hectares (26.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Copalillo (1,434 ha, 2.0 %); Olinalá (909 ha, 1.3 %); Ixcamilpa de Guerrero (293 ha, 1.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.2 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, 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

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
What do you think is wrong?

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.