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MX · Mexico · –

Huajicori fire, May 2017 Rosario, Pueblo Nuevo, Huajicori

Out · last detection 5 Jun 2017, 20:53 UTC

The fire started on 20 May 2017 in Huajicori, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,741 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 141th largest in Nayarit since 2016 (of 171 with a page). Number 298 in Mexico in 2017, of 374.

The power measured by the satellite is low (27.9 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
1,741ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
17days
20 May 2017 – 5 Jun 2017
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
20 May
2017
Heat detections
112
in a single hotspot: 28 MW
Danger at start
25
High · FWI index
Average daily power
42MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 May5 Jun
5 Jun 2017

How it evolved, day by day

20 May 2017 · 4 MW · 1 21 May 2017 · 1 MW · 1 24 May 2017 · 4 MW · 2 26 May 2017 · 50 MW · 18 27 May 2017 · 93 MW · 21 28 May 2017 · 80 MW · 15 29 May 2017 · 32 MW · 5 30 May 2017 · 190 MW · 30 31 May 2017 · 7 MW · 6 2 Jun 2017 · 3 MW · 1 3 Jun 2017 · 28 MW · 6 5 Jun 2017 · 15 MW · 6
20 May 26 May 30 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

27°high
42km/h · peak gust
30%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.2 mm on 14 Jun.

This area had burned before

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

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 1.1% of the area of London (17 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. 1,235 ha reached on 20 May
    0.5 %
  2. 274 ha reached on 28 May
    0.0 %
  3. Huajicori where it started
    240 ha reached on 24 May
    0.1 %

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 area0.18 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.18 hectares of built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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)

Started with 60 days without rain: 25 % of the area in Mexico

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
20 May 26.1 °C 38 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
21 May 26.1 °C 38 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
22 May 26.4 °C 44 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
23 May 25.9 °C 37 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
24 May 25.6 °C 38 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
25 May 25.5 °C 40 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
26 May 27.1 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
27 May 26.7 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
28 May 25.7 °C 39 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
29 May 25.9 °C 37 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
30 May 26.9 °C 35 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
31 May 25.6 °C 49 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
1 Jun 26.2 °C 44 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
2 Jun 27.0 °C 42 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
3 Jun 26.0 °C 38 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
4 Jun 25.5 °C 44 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
5 Jun 26.0 °C 47 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
6 Jun after 26.3 °C 48 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
7 Jun after 25.9 °C 47 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
8 Jun after 26.7 °C 47 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
9 Jun after 25.3 °C 52 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
10 Jun after 24.9 °C 57 % 31 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 16
11 Jun after 25.0 °C 50 % 39 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 16
12 Jun after 24.5 °C 55 % 37 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 17
13 Jun after 23.6 °C 60 % 30 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 16
14 Jun after 25.5 °C 53 % 34 km/h 2.2 mm Low 7

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 24.8, a minimum humidity of 38% and more than two months without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 16.

FWI at the start 24.8
Minimum humidity 38 %
Days without rain 60+
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Rosamorada fire, May 2025
1,752 ha 11 days FWI 24.5 Min. humidity 42 % 99 km away, in 2025

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 8.7 mm on 30 May.

What happened to them

13 days
median duration
1,875 ha
median area
100 %
went past 1,000 ha
4.6 mm
rain at the end (median; 10 of 16 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (1,741 ha against a median of 1,875 ha) and lasted 17 days, against 13 days.

In 6 of 16, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 4.6 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

2.2 mmfirst rain
14 Jun9 days after it ended
42km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 5 Jun, and on 14 Jun 2.2 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 10 of 16, with a median of 4.6 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 13 May 2017
After · 12 Jun 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 · 112Every 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 Huajicori fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 May 2017 to 5 June 2017 (17 days). The perimeter dates it from 24 May 2017 to 5 June 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 1,741 hectares (17.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Rosario (1,235 ha, 0.5 %); Pueblo Nuevo (274 ha, 0.0 %); Huajicori (240 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 27.1 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 16. Their median duration was 13 days and their median area 1,875 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 6 of 16, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 4.6 mm.

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 · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Start date: 24 May 2017 → 20 May 2017.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 24 May 2017 to 5 June 2017. 112 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.