Uruachi fire, June 2017 Moris, Uruachi
The fire started on 9 June 2017 in Uruachi, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,203 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 48th largest in Chihuahua since 2016 (of 235 with a page). Number 58 in Mexico in 2017, of 375.
- Burnt area
- 5,203ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 9 Jun 2017 – 19 Jun 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 9 Jun
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 308
- in a single hotspot: 31 MW
- Danger at start
- 26
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.5GW
- 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: 1.0 mm on 25 Jun.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
3,285 ha reached on 9 Jun1.8 %
-
Uruachi where it started1,938 ha reached on 9 Jun0.7 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Jun | 33.1 °C | 35 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 10 Jun | 33.3 °C | 29 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 11 Jun | 31.9 °C | 31 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 12 Jun | 33.1 °C | 28 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 13 Jun | 35.8 °C | 22 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 14 Jun | 36.9 °C | 21 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 15 Jun | 37.3 °C | 21 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 16 Jun | 36.5 °C | 25 % | 41 km/h | 1.6 mm | High 30 |
| 17 Jun | 36.4 °C | 24 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 18 Jun | 35.3 °C | 30 % | 41 km/h | 2.0 mm | High 22 |
| 19 Jun | 37.1 °C | 28 % | 40 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 33 |
| 20 Jun after | 36.7 °C | 32 % | 41 km/h | 1.7 mm | High 23 |
| 21 Jun after | 36.8 °C | 26 % | 54 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 38 |
| 22 Jun after | 32.4 °C | 46 % | 36 km/h | 1.5 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 23 Jun after | 34.4 °C | 36 % | 38 km/h | 1.6 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 24 Jun after | 36.4 °C | 30 % | 48 km/h | 0.9 mm | High 30 |
| 25 Jun after | 34.8 °C | 30 % | 44 km/h | 1.0 mm | High 32 |
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.
Detections table · 308Every 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 Uruachi fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 June 2017 and 19 June 2017: 11 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 5,203 hectares (52.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Moris (3,285 ha, 1.8 %); Uruachi (1,938 ha, 0.7 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.3 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, 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
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.