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San Ignacio fire, March 2025 San Ignacio, Tamazula, San Dimas

Out · last detection 26 May 2025, 09:41 UTC

The fire started on 23 March 2025 in San Ignacio, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 65 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 49,719 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the largest fire in Sinaloa since 2016 (of 82 with a page). Number 2 in Mexico in 2025, of 167.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Tamazula · 2018San Ignacio · 2016San Ignacio · 2024San Dimas · 2024

Burnt area
49,719ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
65days
23 Mar 2025 – 26 May 2025
Municipalities hit
4
municipalities
Started on
23 Mar
2025
Heat detections
4,333
in a single hotspot: 129 MW
Danger at start
44
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
459MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 23 Mar26 May
26 May 2025

How it evolved, day by day

23 Mar 2025 · 218 MW · 25 24 Mar 2025 · 605 MW · 46 25 Mar 2025 · 133 MW · 34 26 Mar 2025 · 194 MW · 13 27 Mar 2025 · 254 MW · 64 28 Mar 2025 · 652 MW · 111 29 Mar 2025 · 552 MW · 124 30 Mar 2025 · 446 MW · 97 31 Mar 2025 · 426 MW · 96 1 Apr 2025 · 114 MW · 35 2 Apr 2025 · 686 MW · 69 3 Apr 2025 · 834 MW · 117 4 Apr 2025 · 910 MW · 96 5 Apr 2025 · 176 MW · 50 6 Apr 2025 · 230 MW · 70 7 Apr 2025 · 719 MW · 85 8 Apr 2025 · 898 MW · 145 9 Apr 2025 · 388 MW · 66 10 Apr 2025 · 422 MW · 89 11 Apr 2025 · 679 MW · 85 12 Apr 2025 · 316 MW · 54 13 Apr 2025 · 103 MW · 26 14 Apr 2025 · 162 MW · 34 15 Apr 2025 · 59 MW · 25 16 Apr 2025 · 136 MW · 42 17 Apr 2025 · 144 MW · 22 18 Apr 2025 · 83 MW · 21 19 Apr 2025 · 148 MW · 11 20 Apr 2025 · 500 MW · 69 21 Apr 2025 · 785 MW · 155 22 Apr 2025 · 723 MW · 169 23 Apr 2025 · 754 MW · 90 24 Apr 2025 · 135 MW · 43 25 Apr 2025 · 303 MW · 51 26 Apr 2025 · 244 MW · 55 27 Apr 2025 · 398 MW · 64 28 Apr 2025 · 579 MW · 96 29 Apr 2025 · 184 MW · 75 30 Apr 2025 · 1,062 MW · 157 1 May 2025 · 2,596 MW · 318 2 May 2025 · 1,257 MW · 272 3 May 2025 · 196 MW · 101 4 May 2025 · 604 MW · 97 5 May 2025 · 281 MW · 49 6 May 2025 · 109 MW · 24 7 May 2025 · 91 MW · 21 8 May 2025 · 66 MW · 21 9 May 2025 · 28 MW · 6 10 May 2025 · 26 MW · 3 11 May 2025 · 14 MW · 3 12 May 2025 · 48 MW · 10 13 May 2025 · 122 MW · 24 14 May 2025 · 275 MW · 23 15 May 2025 · 997 MW · 72 16 May 2025 · 1,883 MW · 138 17 May 2025 · 386 MW · 67 18 May 2025 · 136 MW · 9 19 May 2025 · 204 MW · 28 22 May 2025 · 852 MW · 26 23 May 2025 · 848 MW · 56 24 May 2025 · 928 MW · 107 25 May 2025 · 611 MW · 79 26 May 2025 · 2 MW · 3
23 Mar 1 Apr 10 Apr 19 Apr 28 Apr 1 May 7 May 16 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

31°high
71km/h · peak gust
5%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.2 mm on 30 May.

This area had burned before

45% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5,005 ha in 2016, 14,857 ha in 2018, 1,304 ha in 2019, 473 ha in 2021, 25 ha in 2023, 3,575 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 22,575 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 31% of the area of London (497 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. San Ignacio where it started
    29,517 ha reached on 23 Mar
    5.8 %
  2. Tamazula
    9,523 ha reached on 2 Apr
    1.6 %
  3. San Dimas
    7,096 ha reached on 30 Apr
    1.3 %
  4. Cosalá
    3,842 ha reached on 29 Mar
    1.8 %

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)
23 Mar 24.6 °C 5 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
24 Mar 25.8 °C 9 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
25 Mar 26.3 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
26 Mar 24.9 °C 18 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
27 Mar 22.8 °C 10 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 Mar 23.4 °C 18 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
29 Mar 24.0 °C 16 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
30 Mar 25.3 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
31 Mar 27.0 °C 17 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
1 Apr 25.3 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
2 Apr 23.4 °C 15 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
3 Apr 21.5 °C 20 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
4 Apr 19.7 °C 23 % 71 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
5 Apr 17.7 °C 41 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
6 Apr 19.8 °C 20 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
7 Apr 23.7 °C 9 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
8 Apr 25.1 °C 10 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
9 Apr 25.6 °C 15 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
10 Apr 27.7 °C 10 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
11 Apr 29.1 °C 7 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
12 Apr 27.8 °C 11 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
13 Apr 26.9 °C 20 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
14 Apr 28.4 °C 16 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
15 Apr 29.4 °C 17 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
16 Apr 26.1 °C 23 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
17 Apr 27.3 °C 27 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
18 Apr 25.0 °C 30 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
19 Apr 24.6 °C 21 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
20 Apr 25.5 °C 9 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
21 Apr 25.2 °C 11 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Apr 25.8 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
23 Apr 24.3 °C 16 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
24 Apr 25.4 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Apr 27.1 °C 7 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
26 Apr 31.2 °C 7 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
27 Apr 26.8 °C 20 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
28 Apr 26.4 °C 32 % 44 km/h 0.6 mm High 33
29 Apr 24.5 °C 30 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
30 Apr 27.0 °C 15 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
1 May 27.2 °C 9 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 May 26.8 °C 14 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
3 May 25.7 °C 18 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
4 May 24.7 °C 20 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
5 May 22.5 °C 18 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
6 May 22.2 °C 25 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
7 May 25.9 °C 14 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
8 May 27.7 °C 10 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
9 May 28.6 °C 16 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
10 May 29.3 °C 17 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
11 May 27.6 °C 23 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
12 May 26.0 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
13 May 27.0 °C 17 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
14 May 27.5 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
15 May 29.3 °C 9 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
16 May 29.8 °C 16 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
17 May 29.1 °C 21 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
18 May 28.8 °C 14 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
19 May 28.7 °C 10 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
20 May 29.9 °C 5 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
21 May 30.9 °C 10 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
22 May 29.4 °C 16 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
23 May 30.4 °C 14 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
24 May 30.6 °C 17 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
25 May 28.8 °C 24 % 53 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 43
26 May 28.0 °C 24 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
27 May after 28.0 °C 24 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
28 May after 28.5 °C 27 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
29 May after 26.7 °C 27 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
30 May after 23.1 °C 50 % 27 km/h 3.2 mm Very low 5

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 16 Mar 2025
After · 2 Jun 2025

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 25 May 2025 the air beside the fire reached 176 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 73: 4.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak176 µg/m³
Days over the guideline45 days
PM10181 µg/m³
Optical depth0.63
21222324252627282930311234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829301234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely 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 · 4,333Every 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 San Ignacio fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 March 2025 and 26 May 2025: 65 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 49,719 hectares (497.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 4 municipalities: San Ignacio (29,517 ha, 5.8 %); Tamazula (9,523 ha, 1.6 %); San Dimas (7,096 ha, 1.3 %); Cosalá (3,842 ha, 1.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.2 °C, humidity dropped to 5 % and gusts hit 71 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 52, class Extreme.
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
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; 6 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 4,333 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.

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.