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Coyuca de Catalán fire, 29 March 2017 Coyuca de Catalán, Ajuchitlán del Progreso

Out · last detection 13 May 2017, 08:32 UTC

The fire started on 29 March 2017 in Coyuca de Catalán, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 46 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 43,113 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 2th largest in Guerrero since 2016 (of 612 with a page). The largest in Mexico in 2017, of 374.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Coyuca de Catalán · 2016Ajuchitlán del Progreso · 2016Coyuca de Catalán · 2016Ajuchitlán del Progreso · 2016

Burnt area
43,113ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
46days
29 Mar 2017 – 13 May 2017
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
29 Mar
2017
Heat detections
2,465
in a single hotspot: 90 MW
Danger at start
27
High · FWI index
Average daily power
281MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 29 Mar13 May
13 May 2017

How it evolved, day by day

29 Mar 2017 · 1 MW · 1 31 Mar 2017 · 76 MW · 2 1 Apr 2017 · 269 MW · 35 2 Apr 2017 · 85 MW · 22 3 Apr 2017 · 52 MW · 21 4 Apr 2017 · 70 MW · 17 5 Apr 2017 · 105 MW · 22 6 Apr 2017 · 129 MW · 23 7 Apr 2017 · 231 MW · 45 8 Apr 2017 · 393 MW · 41 9 Apr 2017 · 805 MW · 102 10 Apr 2017 · 446 MW · 88 11 Apr 2017 · 252 MW · 52 12 Apr 2017 · 122 MW · 45 13 Apr 2017 · 102 MW · 25 14 Apr 2017 · 73 MW · 20 15 Apr 2017 · 16 MW · 3 16 Apr 2017 · 19 MW · 3 17 Apr 2017 · 23 MW · 8 18 Apr 2017 · 1 MW · 1 19 Apr 2017 · 77 MW · 21 20 Apr 2017 · 761 MW · 76 21 Apr 2017 · 214 MW · 51 22 Apr 2017 · 312 MW · 67 23 Apr 2017 · 50 MW · 24 24 Apr 2017 · 86 MW · 22 25 Apr 2017 · 452 MW · 78 26 Apr 2017 · 732 MW · 101 27 Apr 2017 · 167 MW · 103 28 Apr 2017 · 157 MW · 99 29 Apr 2017 · 946 MW · 214 30 Apr 2017 · 2,011 MW · 341 1 May 2017 · 1,814 MW · 333 2 May 2017 · 789 MW · 176 3 May 2017 · 219 MW · 91 4 May 2017 · 167 MW · 27 5 May 2017 · 1 MW · 1 6 May 2017 · 3 MW · 3 7 May 2017 · 50 MW · 1 8 May 2017 · 2 MW · 3 9 May 2017 · 3 MW · 4 10 May 2017 · 183 MW · 12 11 May 2017 · 106 MW · 21 12 May 2017 · 50 MW · 8 13 May 2017 · 19 MW · 12
29 Mar 6 Apr 13 Apr 20 Apr 27 Apr 30 Apr 4 May 11 May

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

The weather it burned in

31°high
42km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.1 mm on 14 May.

This area had burned before

11% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 4,772 ha in 2016.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 27% of the area of London (431 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Coyuca de Catalán where it started
    26,463 ha reached on 29 Mar
    7.8 %
  2. Ajuchitlán del Progreso
    16,853 ha reached on 3 Apr
    8.4 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2015
Built-up area4.3 ha
Residents≈ 350

Inside the perimeter there were about 4.3 hectares of built-up land and about 350 residents (GHSL 2015, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
29 Mar 28.4 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
30 Mar 27.7 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
31 Mar 26.6 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
1 Apr 27.7 °C 19 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
2 Apr 27.1 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
3 Apr 27.9 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
4 Apr 29.3 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
5 Apr 30.4 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
6 Apr 28.5 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
7 Apr 30.9 °C 15 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
8 Apr 28.1 °C 26 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
9 Apr 27.3 °C 31 % 36 km/h 0.7 mm High 23
10 Apr 28.8 °C 25 % 38 km/h 0.6 mm High 27
11 Apr 29.6 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
12 Apr 28.6 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.3 mm High 33
13 Apr 26.2 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.4 mm High 30
14 Apr 27.6 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
15 Apr 27.2 °C 27 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
16 Apr 26.7 °C 27 % 39 km/h 0.7 mm High 27
17 Apr 26.7 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.2 mm High 30
18 Apr 27.3 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm High 35
19 Apr 26.7 °C 22 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm High 34
20 Apr 27.9 °C 14 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
21 Apr 27.4 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
22 Apr 28.3 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.3 mm High 36
23 Apr 27.8 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.5 mm High 32
24 Apr 26.3 °C 35 % 40 km/h 0.2 mm High 29
25 Apr 27.6 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
26 Apr 27.6 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Apr 26.8 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
28 Apr 28.2 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.2 mm High 29
29 Apr 27.4 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.5 mm High 30
30 Apr 29.9 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
1 May 28.7 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
2 May 27.9 °C 35 % 34 km/h 2.0 mm Moderate 12
3 May 27.0 °C 41 % 32 km/h 4.7 mm Very low 4
4 May 28.4 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 12
5 May 25.9 °C 44 % 35 km/h 6.9 mm Very low 2
6 May 25.2 °C 43 % 39 km/h 4.2 mm Very low 2
7 May 26.1 °C 39 % 30 km/h 2.0 mm Very low 4
8 May 27.3 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 12
9 May 26.3 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 15
10 May 28.6 °C 34 % 32 km/h 1.5 mm Low 10
11 May 28.8 °C 35 % 34 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 12
12 May 27.2 °C 38 % 34 km/h 2.1 mm Low 6
13 May 27.5 °C 36 % 34 km/h 3.5 mm Very low 4
14 May after 26.9 °C 39 % 27 km/h 2.1 mm Very low 4

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 22 Mar 2017
After · 20 May 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 · 2,465Every 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 Coyuca de Catalán fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 29 March 2017 to 13 May 2017 (46 days). The perimeter dates it from 31 March 2017 to 6 May 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 43,113 hectares (431.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Coyuca de Catalán (26,463 ha, 7.8 %); Ajuchitlán del Progreso (16,853 ha, 8.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 30.9 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, 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 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 6 May 2017 → 13 May 2017.
  2. Start date: 31 March 2017 → 29 March 2017.

RSS Changes to this page

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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 7 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 31 March 2017 to 6 May 2017. 2,465 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2015, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.