The fire started on 15 May 2022 in Villa Corzo, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,656 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 212th largest in Chiapas since 2016 (of 246 with a page). Number 199 in Mexico in 2022, of 232.
The power measured by the satellite is low (11.4 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
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Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Burned area
with caveats
1,656ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
This page1,656CONAFOR684
Source
GWIS (Copernicus)
Date
15 May 2022 – 22 May 2022
+− cross-check
CONAFOR: 684 ha (matched records: 3). Difference between the page and the official record: +142.1%. Matched on 8 November 2026. The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Duration by satellite
satellite only
8days
15 May 2022 to 22 May 2022: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 22 May 2022, 08:26 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only
15 May 2022
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
15 May 2022
+− cross-check
The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Hotspots
satellite only
49
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 11 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
Date
15 May 2022 – 22 May 2022
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only
150MW
Total radiative power on 16 May 2022; hotspots that day: 32.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
16 May 2022
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model
21.9FWI · high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 3.
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings ›
Weather during the fire
model
32.9°C · 24% RH
High of 32.9 °C and minimum humidity of 24% on 16 May 2022; gusts of 44 km/h on 21 May 2022.
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
Living inside
model
≈ 150people
Estimated residents inside the perimeter and 2.3 ha of built-up area (100 m grid, epoch 2020).
Source
GHSL R2023A · JRC
Date
calculated on 24 October 2026
+− cross-check
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
ⓘThis page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official CONAFOR record
Nearby records with very different figures: 684 ha (records: 3).
A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2020
Built-up area2.3ha
Residents≈ 150
Inside the perimeter there were about 2.3 hectares of built-up land and about 150 residents (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
According to CONAFOR, 3 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 684 ha (the satellite measured 1,656 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
CONAFOR records each fire that started at a different time or place separately; the satellite sees a single burned area, so this page groups them together. The numbers on the map show where each one started.
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
31.5 °C
29 %
28 km/h
0.1 mm
High 22
16 May
32.9 °C
24 %
33 km/h
1.6 mm
Moderate 18
17 May
32.8 °C
31 %
26 km/h
1.9 mm
Moderate 12
18 May
30.7 °C
44 %
34 km/h
0.8 mm
Moderate 15
19 May
32.1 °C
33 %
43 km/h
0.0 mm
High 24
20 May
32.0 °C
36 %
42 km/h
0.0 mm
High 24
21 May
31.2 °C
37 %
44 km/h
0.0 mm
High 25
22 May
31.0 °C
40 %
37 km/h
17.3 mm
Very low 3
23 May after
30.0 °C
44 %
26 km/h
12.2 mm
Very low 1
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 21.9, a minimum humidity of 29% and 3 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 26.
FWI at the start21.9
Minimum humidity29 %
Days without rain3
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Villa Corzo fire, 15 May 2022
1,656 ha8 daysFWI 21.9Min. humidity 29 %
Villa Corzo fire, January 2017
1,851 ha6 daysFWI 21.9Min. humidity 30 %38 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
It burned an area similar to its twins (1,656 ha against a median of 1,734 ha) and lasted 8 days, against 8 days.
In 5 of 26, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.5 mm.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
12.2 mmfirst rain
23 Maythe day after it ended
44km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 22 May, and on 23 May 12.2 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 21 of 26, with a median of 2.5 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 15 May 2022 to 22 May 2022 (8 days). The perimeter dates it from 15 May 2022 to 19 May 2022.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 1,656 hectares (16.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Villa Corzo (1,665 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.9 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 26. Their median duration was 8 days and their median area 1,734 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 5 of 26, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.5 mm.
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.
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 errorHow we know this›
Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 15 May 2022 to 19 May 2022. 49 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with CONAFOR: 684 official ha against 1,656 ha of perimeter; similar, but with reservations.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.