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Tamazula fire, 11 May 2018 Tamazula, Cosalá

Out · last detection 25 May 2018, 20:16 UTC

The fire started on 11 May 2018 in Tamazula, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,739 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 11th largest in Durango since 2016 (of 241 with a page). Number 19 in Mexico in 2018, of 235.

Burnt area
9,739ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
15days
11 May 2018 – 25 May 2018
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
11 May
2018
Heat detections
555
in a single hotspot: 33 MW
Danger at start
31
High · FWI index
Energy released
3.0GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

25 May 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 11 May25 May

How it evolved, day by day

111213141516171819202122232425

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
44km/h · peak gust
14%lowest humidity

It had gone 26 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

32% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,160 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Tamazula where it started
    9,608 ha reached on 8 May
    1.6 %
  2. Cosalá
    158 ha reached on 11 May
    0.1 %

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.

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)
8 May 35.2 °C 30 % 41 km/h 1.0 mm High 31
9 May 34.2 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.8 mm High 26
10 May 34.2 °C 35 % 41 km/h 1.8 mm Moderate 20
11 May 33.6 °C 34 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
12 May 33.1 °C 28 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
13 May 34.1 °C 35 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
14 May 35.6 °C 29 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
15 May 35.6 °C 32 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
16 May 34.7 °C 35 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 May 35.3 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
18 May 35.2 °C 18 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
19 May 34.9 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
20 May 35.3 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
21 May 34.4 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
22 May 33.2 °C 29 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 May 34.2 °C 31 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
24 May 36.8 °C 18 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 May 36.2 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
26 May after 36.2 °C 34 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
27 May after 36.1 °C 34 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
28 May after 34.6 °C 40 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
29 May after 35.2 °C 39 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
30 May after 36.3 °C 37 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 May after 36.4 °C 35 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
1 Jun after 35.8 °C 37 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
2 Jun after 36.9 °C 37 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
3 Jun after 35.9 °C 42 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
4 Jun after 33.9 °C 42 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm High 32

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 4 May 2018
After · 1 Jun 2018

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 · 555Every 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 Tamazula fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 May 2018 and 25 May 2018: 15 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 9,739 hectares (97.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Tamazula (9,608 ha, 1.6 %); Cosalá (158 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.8 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 44 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.

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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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.