Temascaltepec fire, May 2024 Temascaltepec, Valle de Bravo
The fire started on 16 May 2024 in Temascaltepec, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,136 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 19th largest in México since 2016 (of 27 with a page). Number 169 in Mexico in 2024, of 289.
- Burnt area
- 2,136ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 16 May 2024 – 19 May 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 16 May
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 104
- in a single hotspot: 83 MW
- Danger at start
- 37
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 530MW
- 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 21 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 23 May.
This area had burned before
67% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,422 ha in 2017.
What happened to each town
-
Temascaltepec where it started2,142 ha reached on 15 May3.8 %
-
5 ha0.0 %
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, this fire started on 11 May 2024 and burned 1,130 ha (the satellite measured 2,136 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
- Temascaltepec Ejido La Albarrada / Cerro de Juan Luis 11 May 2024 1,130 ha · extinguished on 19 May 2024 · cause: unknown
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 May | 27.7 °C | 28 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 16 May | 26.2 °C | 31 % | 42 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 33 |
| 17 May | 27.5 °C | 30 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 18 May | 27.8 °C | 27 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 19 May | 27.0 °C | 36 % | 31 km/h | 3.6 mm | Low 5 |
| 20 May after | 27.1 °C | 35 % | 38 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 21 May after | 28.2 °C | 29 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 22 May after | 26.1 °C | 36 % | 34 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 24 |
| 23 May after | 26.8 °C | 35 % | 38 km/h | 1.2 mm | Moderate 16 |
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 14 May 2024 the air beside the fire reached 44 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 34: 2.3 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 · 104Every 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 Temascaltepec fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 May 2024 and 19 May 2024: 4 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 2,136 hectares (21.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Temascaltepec (2,142 ha, 3.8 %); Valle de Bravo (5 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 27.8 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, 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.