La Concordia fire, March 2024
La Concordia, Villa Corzo
Out · last detection 21 Apr 2024, 08:02 UTC
The fire started on 27 March 2024 in La Concordia, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 26 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 12,247 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities. According to CONAFOR, the largest of the 3 recorded fires was detected on 27 March 2024 and declared extinguished on 23 April 2024.
It is the 2th largest in Chiapas since 2016 (of 246 with a page). Number 9 in Mexico in 2024, of 289.
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings ›
Weather during the fire
model
34.8°C · 24% RH
High of 34.8 °C and minimum humidity of 24% on 15 April 2024; gusts of 57 km/h on 2 April 2024.
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
Living inside
model
≈ 350people
Estimated residents inside the perimeter and 6.7 ha of built-up area (100 m grid, epoch 2025).
Source
GHSL R2023A · JRC
Date
calculated on 24 October 2026
+− cross-check
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.
ⓘThis page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official CONAFOR record
Matches: 10,035 ha in the official record (records: 3).
A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
35°high
57km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity
It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.3 mm on 22 Apr.
This area had burned before
30% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 856 ha in 2018, 2,075 ha in 2020, 1,968 ha in 2022, 179 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,632 ha that had burned before.
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 2025
Built-up area6.7ha
Residents≈ 350
Inside the perimeter there were about 6.7 hectares of built-up land and about 350 residents (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
According to CONAFOR, 3 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 10,035 ha (the satellite measured 12,247 ha).
CONAFOR records each fire that started at a different time or place separately; the satellite sees a single burned area, so this page groups them together. The numbers on the map show where each one started.
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)
27 Mar
32.7 °C
18 %
37 km/h
0.0 mm
High 37
28 Mar
28.3 °C
42 %
50 km/h
0.1 mm
High 30
29 Mar
33.3 °C
24 %
32 km/h
0.0 mm
High 30
30 Mar
32.5 °C
30 %
27 km/h
0.1 mm
High 29
31 Mar
33.1 °C
28 %
40 km/h
0.3 mm
High 35
1 Apr
31.1 °C
35 %
49 km/h
0.0 mm
High 35
2 Apr
31.0 °C
35 %
57 km/h
0.0 mm
High 37
3 Apr
31.4 °C
31 %
44 km/h
0.0 mm
High 35
4 Apr
28.6 °C
42 %
26 km/h
2.0 mm
Low 9
5 Apr
30.6 °C
37 %
28 km/h
0.4 mm
Moderate 19
6 Apr
32.2 °C
32 %
30 km/h
0.0 mm
High 26
7 Apr
32.9 °C
34 %
31 km/h
0.1 mm
High 25
8 Apr
31.6 °C
38 %
37 km/h
0.5 mm
High 27
9 Apr
31.7 °C
40 %
48 km/h
0.4 mm
High 32
10 Apr
32.7 °C
27 %
49 km/h
0.0 mm
High 34
11 Apr
30.1 °C
29 %
53 km/h
0.1 mm
High 38
12 Apr
31.2 °C
31 %
54 km/h
0.0 mm
High 38
13 Apr
30.6 °C
35 %
50 km/h
0.0 mm
High 36
14 Apr
31.4 °C
33 %
42 km/h
0.0 mm
High 33
15 Apr
34.8 °C
24 %
29 km/h
0.0 mm
High 31
16 Apr
34.2 °C
30 %
35 km/h
0.0 mm
High 36
17 Apr
33.4 °C
33 %
38 km/h
0.0 mm
High 36
18 Apr
34.0 °C
32 %
34 km/h
0.0 mm
High 35
19 Apr
33.2 °C
31 %
32 km/h
2.5 mm
Moderate 15
20 Apr
30.9 °C
45 %
35 km/h
2.5 mm
Low 8
21 Apr
31.3 °C
43 %
34 km/h
8.3 mm
Very low 3
22 Apr after
30.3 °C
45 %
41 km/h
2.3 mm
Low 6
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 37.1, a minimum humidity of 18% and 5 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 15.
FWI at the start37.1
Minimum humidity18 %
Days without rain5
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · La Concordia fire, March 2024
12,247 ha26 daysFWI 37.1Min. humidity 18 %
Villaflores fire, April 2016
1,931 ha4 daysFWI 37.4Min. humidity 27 %48 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.4 mm on 5 May.
It was 5.9 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 26 days, against 10 days.
None of its 15 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 1 of 15, 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 1.5 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
2.3 mmfirst rain
22 Aprthe day after it ended
57km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 21 Apr, and on 22 Apr 2.3 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 14 of 15, with a median of 1.5 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.
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 20 Mar 2024
After · 28 Apr 2024
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
The smoke
CAMS · Copernicus
On 15 April 2024 the air beside the fire reached 64 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 31: 2.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak64µg/m³
Days over the guideline14days
PM1092µg/m³
Optical depth1.15
WHO 15
25 Mar1 Apr8 Apr15 Apr22 Apr
GoodFairModeratePoorVery poorExtremely poor
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table· 657Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.›
⬇ Download CSVTimes in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 27 March 2024 and 21 April 2024: 26 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter. According to CONAFOR, the largest of the 3 recorded fires was detected on 27 March 2024 and declared extinguished on 23 April 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 12,247 hectares (122.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: La Concordia (12,212 ha, 4.7 %); Villa Corzo (101 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.8 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 57 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, 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: 15. Their median duration was 10 days and their median area 2,084 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. None of its 15 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 1 of 15, 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 1.5 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.
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 errorHow we know this›
Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 657 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with CONAFOR: 10,035 official ha against 12,247 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
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 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.