Sultepec fire, May 2023 Sultepec, Amatepec
The fire started on 6 May 2023 in Sultepec, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,470 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 2th largest in México since 2016 (of 27 with a page). Number 53 in Mexico in 2023, of 286.
- Burnt area
- 4,470ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 6 May 2023 – 11 May 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 6 May
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 284
- in a single hotspot: 145 MW
- Danger at start
- 21
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.7GW
- 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: 2.7 mm on 12 May.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Sultepec where it started4,098 ha reached on 6 May7.2 %
-
395 ha reached on 9 May0.6 %
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 6 May 2023 and burned 2,679 ha (the satellite measured 4,470 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
- Sultepec Bienes Comunales San Pedro Hueyahualco/ La Virgen 6 May 2023 2,679 ha · extinguished on 11 May 2023 · cause: natural (lightning)
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 May | 30.1 °C | 23 % | 38 km/h | 0.9 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 7 May | 29.8 °C | 24 % | 36 km/h | 2.7 mm | Low 11 |
| 8 May | 27.9 °C | 20 % | 42 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 26 |
| 9 May | 28.8 °C | 26 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 10 May | 28.6 °C | 25 % | 42 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 28 |
| 11 May | 29.0 °C | 23 % | 42 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 31 |
| 12 May after | 27.1 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 2.7 mm | Low 8 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 9 May 2023 the air beside the fire reached 72 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 48: 3.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 284Every 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 Sultepec fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 May 2023 and 11 May 2023: 6 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 4,470 hectares (44.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Sultepec (4,098 ha, 7.2 %); Amatepec (395 ha, 0.6 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.1 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, 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.