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Hermits Peak Fire, April 2022 San Miguel, Mora, Taos

Out · last detection 18 Jun 2022, 19:35 UTC

The fire started on 6 April 2022 in Mora, United States, and satellites saw it burning for 74 days. United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 142,361 hectares, spread across 3 counties.

It is the largest fire in New Mexico since 2016 (of 204 with a page). The largest in United States in 2022, of 493.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Sardinas Canyon · 2018Frijoles · 2026Luna · 2020Amole · 2019

Burnt area
142,361ha
official perimeter (MTBS / NIFC)
Duration
≈ 74days
6 Apr 2022 – 18 Jun 2022
Counties hit
3
counties
Started on
6 Apr
2022
Heat detections
13,338
in a single hotspot: 1,080 MW
Danger at start
6
Low · FWI index
Average daily power
5.8GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Apr18 Jun
18 Jun 2022

How it evolved, day by day

6 Apr 2022 · 88 MW · 5 7 Apr 2022 · 237 MW · 12 8 Apr 2022 · 412 MW · 21 9 Apr 2022 · 84 MW · 16 10 Apr 2022 · 110 MW · 14 11 Apr 2022 · 3,607 MW · 34 12 Apr 2022 · 4,309 MW · 156 13 Apr 2022 · 339 MW · 67 14 Apr 2022 · 146 MW · 21 15 Apr 2022 · 476 MW · 10 16 Apr 2022 · 2 MW · 3 17 Apr 2022 · 15 MW · 1 19 Apr 2022 · 11 MW · 2 20 Apr 2022 · 126 MW · 18 21 Apr 2022 · 205 MW · 21 22 Apr 2022 · 12,331 MW · 179 23 Apr 2022 · 10,113 MW · 567 24 Apr 2022 · 2,061 MW · 285 25 Apr 2022 · 511 MW · 28 26 Apr 2022 · 829 MW · 58 27 Apr 2022 · 149 MW · 23 28 Apr 2022 · 4,815 MW · 116 29 Apr 2022 · 11,643 MW · 265 30 Apr 2022 · 13,016 MW · 587 1 May 2022 · 15,244 MW · 431 2 May 2022 · 40,448 MW · 1596 3 May 2022 · 18,182 MW · 335 4 May 2022 · 3,920 MW · 385 5 May 2022 · 3,056 MW · 184 6 May 2022 · 168 MW · 50 7 May 2022 · 2,406 MW · 217 8 May 2022 · 19,553 MW · 545 9 May 2022 · 16,955 MW · 589 10 May 2022 · 44,342 MW · 909 11 May 2022 · 34,258 MW · 871 12 May 2022 · 19,706 MW · 446 13 May 2022 · 32,050 MW · 845 14 May 2022 · 22,382 MW · 481 15 May 2022 · 8,524 MW · 433 16 May 2022 · 1,118 MW · 212 17 May 2022 · 4,177 MW · 122 18 May 2022 · 3,880 MW · 152 19 May 2022 · 13,550 MW · 315 20 May 2022 · 2,496 MW · 140 21 May 2022 · 652 MW · 88 22 May 2022 · 862 MW · 28 23 May 2022 · 155 MW · 15 24 May 2022 · 34 MW · 15 25 May 2022 · 333 MW · 18 26 May 2022 · 4,764 MW · 116 27 May 2022 · 1,722 MW · 106 28 May 2022 · 171 MW · 39 29 May 2022 · 1,998 MW · 67 30 May 2022 · 1,158 MW · 45 31 May 2022 · 1,166 MW · 39 1 Jun 2022 · 278 MW · 29 2 Jun 2022 · 164 MW · 13 3 Jun 2022 · 149 MW · 7 4 Jun 2022 · 900 MW · 27 5 Jun 2022 · 412 MW · 36 6 Jun 2022 · 209 MW · 36 7 Jun 2022 · 197 MW · 26 8 Jun 2022 · 168 MW · 25 9 Jun 2022 · 177 MW · 7 10 Jun 2022 · 101 MW · 12 11 Jun 2022 · 1,145 MW · 53 12 Jun 2022 · 70 MW · 18 13 Jun 2022 · 248 MW · 17 14 Jun 2022 · 18,440 MW · 350 15 Jun 2022 · 15,286 MW · 236 16 Jun 2022 · 668 MW · 89 17 Jun 2022 · 23 MW · 13 18 Jun 2022 · 5 MW · 1
6 Apr 17 Apr 29 Apr 10 May 21 May 1 Jun 12 Jun

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
107km/h · peak gust
6%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.3 mm on 19 Jun.

This area had burned before

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

How big is it?

20 km
It burned the equivalent of 90% of the area of London (1,424 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 county

  1. San Miguel
    82,334 ha reached on 6 Apr
    6.7 %
  2. Mora where it started
    56,266 ha reached on 23 Apr
    11 %
  3. Taos
    4,358 ha reached on 11 May
    0.8 %

Burnt area inside each county, from crossing the official 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 2020
Built-up area87 ha
Residents≈ 1,700

Inside the perimeter there were about 87 hectares of built-up land and about 1,700 residents (GHSL 2020, 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)
6 Apr 9.8 °C 23 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
7 Apr 9.0 °C 21 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
8 Apr 12.9 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
9 Apr 15.9 °C 15 % 66 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
10 Apr 12.4 °C 16 % 86 km/h 1.8 mm Low 5
11 Apr 13.6 °C 26 % 82 km/h 0.7 mm Low 9
12 Apr 9.5 °C 40 % 102 km/h 2.9 mm Very low 3
13 Apr 2.6 °C 16 % 107 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
14 Apr 9.9 °C 15 % 70 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
15 Apr 14.1 °C 19 % 72 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
16 Apr 14.8 °C 14 % 68 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
17 Apr 16.2 °C 17 % 74 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
18 Apr 15.1 °C 23 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
19 Apr 16.7 °C 21 % 88 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
20 Apr 18.3 °C 16 % 82 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
21 Apr 20.0 °C 17 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
22 Apr 20.2 °C 16 % 106 km/h 0.5 mm High 30
23 Apr 10.4 °C 19 % 87 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
24 Apr 11.7 °C 16 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
25 Apr 11.4 °C 23 % 52 km/h 3.8 mm Very low 2
26 Apr 15.3 °C 23 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
27 Apr 17.5 °C 30 % 72 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 4
28 Apr 18.0 °C 15 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
29 Apr 15.8 °C 11 % 93 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
30 Apr 16.9 °C 14 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
1 May 19.1 °C 12 % 75 km/h 0.3 mm High 26
2 May 15.9 °C 19 % 81 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
3 May 18.8 °C 15 % 73 km/h 0.5 mm High 26
4 May 11.2 °C 20 % 72 km/h 0.1 mm High 27
5 May 16.0 °C 20 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
6 May 21.0 °C 14 % 63 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
7 May 23.1 °C 14 % 71 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
8 May 21.6 °C 15 % 91 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
9 May 20.8 °C 15 % 90 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
10 May 22.7 °C 11 % 63 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
11 May 22.8 °C 11 % 69 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
12 May 18.8 °C 6 % 72 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
13 May 20.2 °C 9 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
14 May 22.7 °C 10 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
15 May 24.1 °C 8 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
16 May 23.0 °C 19 % 59 km/h 1.0 mm High 26
17 May 23.7 °C 11 % 48 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
18 May 22.8 °C 14 % 44 km/h 1.0 mm High 27
19 May 23.8 °C 13 % 77 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 44
20 May 21.2 °C 15 % 76 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 May 14.2 °C 37 % 55 km/h 0.6 mm High 27
22 May 14.9 °C 29 % 61 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
23 May 15.3 °C 27 % 62 km/h 0.7 mm High 24
24 May 9.9 °C 47 % 46 km/h 7.4 mm Very low 0
25 May 17.6 °C 19 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
26 May 24.1 °C 8 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
27 May 25.1 °C 9 % 64 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
28 May 24.0 °C 11 % 79 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 May 20.7 °C 16 % 84 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
30 May 18.3 °C 13 % 84 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
31 May 21.8 °C 14 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
1 Jun 17.1 °C 34 % 45 km/h 6.9 mm Very low 3
2 Jun 21.9 °C 27 % 53 km/h 0.5 mm Low 11
3 Jun 22.5 °C 18 % 52 km/h 5.8 mm Very low 4
4 Jun 24.1 °C 12 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
5 Jun 24.3 °C 16 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
6 Jun 26.1 °C 17 % 49 km/h 0.3 mm High 27
7 Jun 27.0 °C 18 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
8 Jun 23.3 °C 19 % 42 km/h 1.6 mm Moderate 16
9 Jun 26.9 °C 23 % 49 km/h 2.1 mm Moderate 12
10 Jun 29.8 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
11 Jun 29.7 °C 13 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
12 Jun 27.8 °C 15 % 58 km/h 0.8 mm High 31
13 Jun 26.3 °C 14 % 74 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
14 Jun 25.6 °C 11 % 68 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
15 Jun 28.4 °C 9 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
16 Jun 27.5 °C 13 % 47 km/h 1.3 mm High 28
17 Jun 23.9 °C 31 % 50 km/h 6.4 mm Very low 5
18 Jun 23.3 °C 39 % 54 km/h 7.4 mm Very low 3
19 Jun after 20.8 °C 42 % 53 km/h 3.3 mm Very low 3

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 30 Mar 2022
After · 25 Jun 2022

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 · 13,338Every 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 United States ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Hermits Peak Fire last?
The official perimeter only gives the start date (6 April 2022). The end comes from the heat detections inside the perimeter: it burned until 18 June 2022 (74 days from 6 April 2022), the last day with detections before more than 10 days in a row without any, so it is approximate.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter published by United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC) is 142,361 hectares (1,423.6 km²). Other tallies, such as daily incident reports, may give slightly different figures.
Which counties burned?
The fire entered 3 counties: San Miguel (82,334 ha, 6.7 %); Mora (56,266 ha, 11 %); Taos (4,358 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.8 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 107 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the official burnt perimeter of United States agencies (MTBS / NIFC, public domain), NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of United States. 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 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

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
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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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: MTBS (US Geological Survey and US Forest Service), official.
  • The official perimeter has no end date: the end is the last day with VIIRS detections inside the perimeter before a gap of more than 10 days (150 days at most), so it is approximate. 13,338 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 2020, 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 is official and in the public domain. For past years it comes from MTBS (Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity), run by the U.S. Geological Survey and the USDA Forest Service, which map it on Landsat and Sentinel-2 imagery. For the current and last year it comes from WFIGS at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC): incident perimeters mapped by fire crews, aircraft and imagery. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. County boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Public Domain). The area per county is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from official figures.