Villa Comaltitlán fire, May 2018 Villa Comaltitlán, Acapetahua
The fire started on 8 May 2018 in Villa Comaltitlán, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,516 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 259th largest in Chiapas since 2016 (of 265 with a page). Number 230 in Mexico in 2018, of 235.
- Burnt area
- 1,516ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 8 May 2018 – 9 May 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 8 May
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 36
- in a single hotspot: 33 MW
- Danger at start
- 14
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 513MW
- 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: 1.2 mm on 10 May.
This area had burned before
12% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 188 ha in 2017.
What happened to each town
-
Villa Comaltitlán where it started1,439 ha reached on 8 May3.2 %
-
85 ha reached on 9 May0.2 %
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 8 May 2018 and burned 850 ha (the satellite measured 1,516 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
- Villa Comaltitlán Reserva de la Biosfera la Encrucijada 8 May 2018 850 ha · extinguished on 11 May 2018 · cause: negligence
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 May | 34.2 °C | 56 % | 29 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 9 May | 35.3 °C | 45 % | 29 km/h | 0.2 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 10 May after | 35.5 °C | 46 % | 29 km/h | 1.2 mm | Moderate 15 |
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 · 36Every 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 Villa Comaltitlán fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 8 May 2018 and 9 May 2018: 2 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 1,516 hectares (15.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Villa Comaltitlán (1,439 ha, 3.2 %); Acapetahua (85 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.3 °C, humidity dropped to 45 % and gusts hit 29 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 18, class Moderate.
- 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.