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 1,840 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 178th largest in Chiapas since 2016 (of 246 with a page). Number 175 in Mexico in 2022, of 232.
The power measured by the satellite is low (12.7 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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Burned area
with caveats
1,840ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
This page1,840CONAFOR1,156
Source
GWIS (Copernicus)
Date
15 May 2022 – 22 May 2022
+− cross-check
CONAFOR: 1,156 ha (matched records: 2). Difference between the page and the official record: +59.1%. 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, 19:35 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
58
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 13 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
114MW
Total radiative power on 21 May 2022; hotspots that day: 21.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
21 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
31.0FWI · 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
35.0°C · 30% RH
High of 35.0 °C and minimum humidity of 30% on 17 May 2022; gusts of 48 km/h on 20 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
≈ 30people
Estimated residents inside the perimeter and 0.68 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
· reconstructedweather
Weather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official CONAFOR record
Nearby records with very different figures: 1,156 ha (records: 2).
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
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
35°high
48km/h · peak gust
27%lowest humidity
It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.9 mm on 23 May.
This area had burned before
95% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 234 ha in 2016, 1,524 ha in 2019, 1,396 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,750 ha that had burned before.
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 area0.68ha
Residents≈ 30
Inside the perimeter there were about 0.68 hectares of built-up land and about 30 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, 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 1,156 ha (the satellite measured 1,840 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
33.5 °C
31 %
42 km/h
0.1 mm
High 31
16 May
34.5 °C
27 %
41 km/h
0.0 mm
High 31
17 May
35.0 °C
30 %
30 km/h
0.0 mm
High 24
18 May
33.1 °C
43 %
35 km/h
0.6 mm
High 28
19 May
34.5 °C
32 %
48 km/h
0.0 mm
High 34
20 May
33.9 °C
35 %
48 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 40
21 May
33.3 °C
36 %
46 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 42
22 May
33.3 °C
39 %
38 km/h
8.5 mm
High 36
23 May after
32.3 °C
45 %
27 km/h
6.9 mm
Low 6
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 31.0, a minimum humidity of 31% and 3 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 16.
FWI at the start31.0
Minimum humidity31 %
Days without rain3
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Villa Corzo fire, 15 May 2022
1,840 ha8 daysFWI 31.0Min. humidity 31 %
Jiquipilas fire, May 2024
1,822 ha14 daysFWI 31.0Min. humidity 31 %53 km away, in 2024
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 8.2 mm on 19 May.
It burned an area similar to its twins (1,840 ha against a median of 2,383 ha) and lasted 8 days, against 12 days.
In 5 of 16, 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 2.7 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
6.9 mmfirst rain
23 Maythe day after it ended
48km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 22 May, and on 23 May 6.9 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 11 of 16, with a median of 2.7 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 18 May 2022 to 22 May 2022.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 1,840 hectares (18.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Villa Corzo (1,851 ha, 0.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.0 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 48 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.
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: 16. Their median duration was 12 days and their median area 2,383 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 5 of 16, 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 2.7 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 18 May 2022 to 22 May 2022. 58 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with CONAFOR: 1,156 official ha against 1,840 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.