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Durango fire, May 2021 Durango, Pueblo Nuevo

Out · last detection 28 May 2021, 20:09 UTC

The fire started on 16 May 2021 in Durango, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,360 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 81th largest in Durango since 2016 (of 241 with a page). Number 100 in Mexico in 2021, of 295.

Burnt area
3,360ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
13days
16 May 2021 – 28 May 2021
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
16 May
2021
Heat detections
162
in a single hotspot: 42 MW
Danger at start
25
High · FWI index
Energy released
1.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

28 May 2021
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 May28 May

How it evolved, day by day

161819202122232425262728

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
59km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 15.8 mm on 2 Jun.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Durango 518,709 inhabitants where it started
    2,524 ha reached on 16 May
    0.3 %
  2. Pueblo Nuevo
    847 ha reached on 22 May
    0.1 %

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 May 29.6 °C 30 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
17 May 30.2 °C 33 % 54 km/h 0.4 mm High 27
18 May 28.4 °C 29 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
19 May 27.2 °C 18 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
20 May 32.8 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
21 May 30.5 °C 33 % 39 km/h 0.3 mm High 30
22 May 29.6 °C 36 % 48 km/h 0.2 mm High 30
23 May 30.9 °C 34 % 47 km/h 1.2 mm Moderate 20
24 May 30.6 °C 24 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
25 May 32.3 °C 22 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
26 May 34.4 °C 19 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 May 34.5 °C 29 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
28 May 32.6 °C 31 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 May after 31.9 °C 34 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
30 May after 32.8 °C 31 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 May after 32.8 °C 29 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
1 Jun after 32.3 °C 30 % 41 km/h 0.4 mm High 32
2 Jun after 28.6 °C 51 % 34 km/h 15.8 mm Very low 2

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 May 2021
After · 4 Jun 2021

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 · 162Every 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 Durango fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 May 2021 and 28 May 2021: 13 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 3,360 hectares (33.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Durango (2,524 ha, 0.3 %); Pueblo Nuevo (847 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.5 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 59 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

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.