How long did the Uruachi fire last?

GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 13 May 2021 and 28 May 2021: 16 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 2,973 hectares (29.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Uruachi (2,886 ha, 1.1 %); Chínipas (98 ha, 0.0 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 31.7 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 60 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 43, 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.

MX · Mexico · 2021-05-13 → 2021-05-28

Uruachi fire, May 2021 Uruachi, Chínipas

Out · last detection 28 May 2021, 20:10 UTC

The fire started on 13 May 2021 in Uruachi, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 16 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,973 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 96th largest in Chihuahua since 2016 (of 235 with a page). Number 117 in Mexico in 2021, of 295.

Burnt area: 2,973ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 16days; 13 May 2021 – 28 May 2021
Municipalities hit: 2; municipalities
Started on: 13 May; 2021
Heat detections: 222; in a single hotspot: 63 MW
Danger at start: 30; High · FWI index
Energy released: 1.3GW; sum of detected power

Play back 28 May 2021

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 May28 May

How it evolved, day by day

131516171819202122232425262728

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

The weather it burned in

32°high

60km/h · peak gust

13%lowest humidity

It had gone one day 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

Uruachi where it started

2,886 ha reached on 13 May

1.1 %
Chínipas

98 ha reached on 15 May

0.0 %

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 16 May 2021 and burned 1,706 ha (the satellite measured 2,973 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.

Uruachi Ej. Guazago, N.C.P. Guadalupe, P.P. San Francisco y el Potrero, Luchachic y Ocoviachi 16 May 2021 1,706 ha · extinguished on 31 May 2021 · cause: arson

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)
13 May	29.6 °C	23 %	35 km/h	0.2 mm	High 30
14 May	30.0 °C	20 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
15 May	28.0 °C	27 %	55 km/h	0.1 mm	Very high 38
16 May	28.6 °C	17 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
17 May	26.9 °C	16 %	60 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
18 May	26.0 °C	15 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
19 May	27.8 °C	20 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
20 May	29.9 °C	23 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 38
21 May	27.7 °C	27 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
22 May	29.3 °C	28 %	55 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
23 May	29.6 °C	20 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
24 May	28.9 °C	20 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
25 May	29.9 °C	17 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
26 May	30.9 °C	13 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
27 May	30.6 °C	17 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
28 May	31.7 °C	13 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
29 May after	30.8 °C	17 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
30 May after	29.8 °C	19 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
31 May after	30.1 °C	19 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
1 Jun after	31.3 °C	19 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
2 Jun after	29.1 °C	26 %	48 km/h	0.6 mm	High 36
3 Jun after	29.4 °C	21 %	50 km/h	0.6 mm	High 36
4 Jun after	31.3 °C	20 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
5 Jun after	31.0 °C	16 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
6 Jun after	32.1 °C	20 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
7 Jun after	32.1 °C	16 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 6 May 2021

After · 4 Jun 2021

Before After

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 · 222Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Mexico ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Uruachi fire last?: GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 13 May 2021 and 28 May 2021: 16 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 2,973 hectares (29.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Uruachi (2,886 ha, 1.1 %); Chínipas (98 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 31.7 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 60 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 43, 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

CONAFOR · Comisión Nacional Forestal ↗
CENAPRED ↗

Satellite cross-check

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

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.

Where it burned