Skip to content
worldfires
MX · Mexico · →

Tecolotlán fire, May 2019 Tecolotlán, Ameca

Out · last detection 15 May 2019, 20:59 UTC

The fire started on 10 May 2019 in Tecolotlán, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,051 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 54th largest in Jalisco since 2016 (of 283 with a page). Number 83 in Mexico in 2019, of 364.

Burnt area
4,051ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
6days
10 May 2019 – 15 May 2019
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
10 May
2019
Heat detections
196
in a single hotspot: 171 MW
Danger at start
46
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
2.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

15 May 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 May15 May

How it evolved, day by day

1012131415

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

The weather it burned in

28°high
51km/h · peak gust
12%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Tecolotlán where it started
    2,387 ha reached on 10 May
    3.1 %
  2. Ameca
    1,686 ha reached on 12 May
    2.0 %

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, 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 2,032 ha (the satellite measured 4,051 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.

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)
10 May 25.8 °C 13 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
11 May 27.6 °C 15 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
12 May 25.7 °C 17 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
13 May 27.7 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
14 May 28.5 °C 13 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
15 May 28.2 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
16 May after 28.6 °C 16 % 40 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 43
17 May after 28.4 °C 18 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
18 May after 26.5 °C 21 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
19 May after 29.4 °C 13 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
20 May after 28.5 °C 15 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
21 May after 27.7 °C 13 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
22 May after 28.1 °C 11 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
23 May after 28.2 °C 13 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
24 May after 29.2 °C 14 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
25 May after 29.5 °C 19 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 3 May 2019
After · 22 May 2019

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 · 196Every 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 Tecolotlán fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 10 May 2019 and 15 May 2019: 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 4,051 hectares (40.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Tecolotlán (2,387 ha, 3.1 %); Ameca (1,686 ha, 2.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 28.5 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 47, 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.

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.

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.