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Malinaltepec fire, March 2017 Metlatónoc, Malinaltepec, Iliatenco

Out · last detection 27 Mar 2017, 08:13 UTC

The fire started on 19 March 2017 in Malinaltepec, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,706 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 267th largest in Guerrero since 2016 (of 612 with a page). Number 154 in Mexico in 2017, of 375.

The power measured by the satellite is low (14.8 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
2,706ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
19 Mar 2017 – 27 Mar 2017
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
19 Mar
2017
Heat detections
140
in a single hotspot: 15 MW
Danger at start
19
Moderate · FWI index
Energy released
524MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

27 Mar 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Mar27 Mar

How it evolved, day by day

192021222324252627

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

The weather it burned in

28°high
55km/h · peak gust
30%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 28 Mar.

This area had burned before

10% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 259 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Metlatónoc
    1,752 ha reached on 19 Mar
    2.9 %
  2. Malinaltepec where it started
    630 ha reached on 19 Mar
    1.3 %
  3. Iliatenco
    339 ha reached on 19 Mar
    1.4 %

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)
19 Mar 27.5 °C 37 % 44 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 19
20 Mar 28.0 °C 30 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
21 Mar 26.7 °C 36 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
22 Mar 24.9 °C 47 % 52 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 13
23 Mar 24.3 °C 44 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
24 Mar 25.4 °C 39 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
25 Mar 26.1 °C 35 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
26 Mar 25.3 °C 48 % 40 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 12
27 Mar 25.6 °C 48 % 36 km/h 3.6 mm Very low 4
28 Mar after 24.1 °C 59 % 36 km/h 1.2 mm Very low 5

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Mar 2017
After · 3 Apr 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 · 140Every 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 Malinaltepec fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 March 2017 and 27 March 2017: 9 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 2,706 hectares (27.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Metlatónoc (1,752 ha, 2.9 %); Malinaltepec (630 ha, 1.3 %); Iliatenco (339 ha, 1.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.0 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 24, 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.

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.

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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.