Othón P. Blanco fire, 18 April 2020
Othón P. Blanco
Out · last detection 5 May 2020, 19:42 UTC
The fire started on 18 April 2020 in Othón P. Blanco, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 20 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,217 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 27th largest in Quintana Roo since 2016 (of 40 with a page). Number 132 in Mexico in 2020, of 241.
The power measured by the satellite is low (25.3 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
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Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Burned area
with caveats
2,217ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
This page2,217CONAFOR1,243
Source
GWIS (Copernicus)
Date
18 Apr 2020 – 7 May 2020
+− cross-check
CONAFOR: 1,243 ha (matched records: 1). Difference between the page and the official record: +78.4%. Matched on 8 November 2026. The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Duration by satellite
satellite only
20days
18 Apr 2020 to 7 May 2020: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 5 May 2020, 19:42 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only
18 Apr 2020
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
18 Apr 2020
+− cross-check
The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Hotspots
satellite only
94
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 25 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
Date
18 Apr 2020 – 7 May 2020
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only
114MW
Total radiative power on 26 April 2020; hotspots that day: 15.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
26 Apr 2020
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model
34.9FWI · high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 18.
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
32.9°C · 62% RH
High of 32.9 °C and minimum humidity of 62% on 24 April 2020; gusts of 59 km/h on 23 April 2020.
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.
ⓘ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
Nearby records with very different figures: 1,243 ha (records: 1).
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
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 2020
Built-up area0.21ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there were about 0.21 hectares of built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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.
According to CONAFOR, this fire started on 25 April 2020 and burned 1,243 ha (the satellite measured 2,217 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Othón P. BlancoSanta Elena25 April 20201,243 ha· extinguished on 11 May 2020· cause: negligence
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)
18 Apr
32.1 °C
61 %
46 km/h
0.0 mm
High 35
19 Apr
31.2 °C
62 %
52 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 42
20 Apr
32.2 °C
63 %
39 km/h
0.0 mm
High 29
21 Apr
32.0 °C
62 %
39 km/h
0.0 mm
High 29
22 Apr
31.5 °C
63 %
47 km/h
0.0 mm
High 36
23 Apr
32.1 °C
58 %
59 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 46
24 Apr
32.9 °C
62 %
37 km/h
0.0 mm
High 30
25 Apr
32.1 °C
68 %
42 km/h
0.0 mm
High 29
26 Apr
31.9 °C
61 %
44 km/h
0.0 mm
High 32
27 Apr
31.8 °C
60 %
41 km/h
0.4 mm
High 30
28 Apr
32.0 °C
62 %
41 km/h
1.3 mm
Moderate 19
29 Apr
31.3 °C
63 %
44 km/h
0.0 mm
High 30
30 Apr
32.3 °C
54 %
34 km/h
0.7 mm
High 22
1 May
32.0 °C
60 %
33 km/h
2.8 mm
Low 8
2 May
31.9 °C
57 %
39 km/h
0.4 mm
High 22
3 May
31.3 °C
64 %
40 km/h
0.7 mm
High 23
4 May
31.3 °C
66 %
42 km/h
1.6 mm
Moderate 20
5 May
32.0 °C
62 %
41 km/h
0.0 mm
High 28
6 May
32.6 °C
64 %
37 km/h
0.6 mm
High 27
7 May
29.6 °C
72 %
36 km/h
12.2 mm
Low 7
8 May after
29.7 °C
75 %
35 km/h
4.7 mm
Very low 1
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 34.9, a minimum humidity of 61% and 18 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 5.
FWI at the start34.9
Minimum humidity61 %
Days without rain18
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Othón P. Blanco fire, 18 April 2020
2,217 ha20 daysFWI 34.9Min. humidity 61 %
Othón P. Blanco fire, May 2016
2,594 ha11 daysFWI 26.2Min. humidity 62 %59 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.8 mm on 3 Jun.
Fires in the area that started in similar weather: 5. With fewer than 15 we give no figures: they would be more noise than signal.
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
4.7 mmfirst rain
8 Maythe day after it ended
59km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 7 May, and on 8 May 4.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out.
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.
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 18 April 2020 to 7 May 2020 (20 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 April 2020 to 7 May 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,217 hectares (22.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Othón P. Blanco (2,230 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.9 °C, humidity dropped to 54 % and gusts hit 59 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, class Very 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.
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 adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 23 April 2020 to 7 May 2020. 94 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with CONAFOR: 1,243 official ha against 2,217 ha of perimeter; similar, but with reservations.
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.
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.