Otáez fire, May 2021 Otáez, Santiago Papasquiaro
The fire started on 16 May 2021 in Otáez, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,267 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 84th largest in Durango since 2016 (of 241 with a page). Number 102 in Mexico in 2021, of 295.
- Burnt area
- 3,267ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 16days
- 16 May 2021 – 31 May 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 16 May
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 179
- in a single hotspot: 48 MW
- Danger at start
- 20
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.2GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.6 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
-
Otáez where it started2,812 ha reached on 16 May1.6 %
-
467 ha reached on 26 May0.1 %
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.
Official record
According to CONAFOR, this fire started on 19 May 2021 and burned 2,350 ha (the satellite measured 3,267 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
- Otáez La Cuchilla, Boca del Potrero / Cordon Colorado 19 May 2021 2,350 ha · extinguished on 3 June 2021 · cause: unknown
CONAFOR (Comisión Nacional Forestal), estadística de incendios forestales en datos.gob.mx (CC BY 4.0). This is the agency’s consolidated statistic: it measures the area in its own way, which is why it can differ from the satellite.
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 | 23.4 °C | 21 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 17 May | 24.0 °C | 21 % | 60 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 27 |
| 18 May | 22.7 °C | 20 % | 62 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 19 May | 22.5 °C | 17 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 20 May | 26.6 °C | 17 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 21 May | 24.2 °C | 33 % | 44 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 25 |
| 22 May | 24.1 °C | 39 % | 50 km/h | 1.7 mm | Low 10 |
| 23 May | 25.2 °C | 34 % | 46 km/h | 2.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 24 May | 24.0 °C | 23 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 25 May | 26.2 °C | 19 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 26 May | 27.9 °C | 18 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 27 May | 28.1 °C | 22 % | 49 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 33 |
| 28 May | 28.1 °C | 20 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 29 May | 26.3 °C | 29 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 30 May | 26.6 °C | 24 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 31 May | 26.7 °C | 23 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 1 Jun after | 27.0 °C | 23 % | 42 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 31 |
| 2 Jun after | 20.3 °C | 45 % | 33 km/h | 6.6 mm | Very low 2 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · 179Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Otáez fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 May 2021 and 31 May 2021: 16 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 3,267 hectares (32.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Otáez (2,812 ha, 1.6 %); Santiago Papasquiaro (467 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.1 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 62 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, 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.
Report an error
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.