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Copanatoyac fire, March 2017 Copanatoyac, Zapotitlán Tablas, Tlapa de Comonfort

Out · last detection 8 Apr 2017, 07:48 UTC

The fire started on 31 March 2017 in Copanatoyac, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,086 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 222th largest in Guerrero since 2016 (of 612 with a page). Number 132 in Mexico in 2017, of 375.

Burnt area
3,086ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
31 Mar 2017 – 8 Apr 2017
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
31 Mar
2017
Heat detections
148
in a single hotspot: 47 MW
Danger at start
29
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.1GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

8 Apr 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 31 Mar8 Apr

How it evolved, day by day

3112345678

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

The weather it burned in

30°high
52km/h · peak gust
11%lowest humidity

It had gone 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.1 mm on 10 Apr.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Copanatoyac where it started
    2,233 ha reached on 31 Mar
    7.2 %
  2. Zapotitlán Tablas
    469 ha reached on 4 Apr
    2.0 %
  3. Tlapa de Comonfort
    403 ha reached on 1 Apr
    0.7 %

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)
31 Mar 27.2 °C 23 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
1 Apr 28.3 °C 11 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
2 Apr 27.4 °C 17 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
3 Apr 28.2 °C 22 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
4 Apr 29.3 °C 20 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
5 Apr 30.1 °C 17 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
6 Apr 28.7 °C 25 % 29 km/h 0.2 mm High 32
7 Apr 29.3 °C 23 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm High 35
8 Apr 28.1 °C 25 % 37 km/h 0.4 mm High 32
9 Apr after 27.3 °C 30 % 41 km/h 0.7 mm High 28
10 Apr after 27.6 °C 25 % 42 km/h 2.1 mm Moderate 14

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Mar 2017
After · 15 Apr 2017

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 · 148Every 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 Copanatoyac fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 31 March 2017 and 8 April 2017: 9 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 3,086 hectares (30.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Copanatoyac (2,233 ha, 7.2 %); Zapotitlán Tablas (469 ha, 2.0 %); Tlapa de Comonfort (403 ha, 0.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 30.1 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, class 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
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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.