Villa Corzo fire, 23 April 2023
Villa Corzo, Villaflores
Out · last detection 4 May 2023, 19:31 UTC
The fire started on 23 April 2023 in Villa Corzo, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,552 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 90th largest in Chiapas since 2016 (of 246 with a page). Number 125 in Mexico in 2023, of 285.
The power measured by the satellite is low (14.0 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
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Burned area
with caveats
2,552ha
Perimeter published by GWIS (Copernicus).
This page2,552CONAFOR1,572
Source
GWIS (Copernicus)
Date
23 Apr 2023 – 4 May 2023
+− cross-check
CONAFOR: 1,572 ha (matched records: 3). Difference between the page and the official record: +62.3%. Matched on 1 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
12days
23 Apr 2023 to 4 May 2023: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 4 May 2023, 19:31 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
23 Apr 2023
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
Source
GWIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
23 Apr 2023
+− 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
130
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 14 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
Date
23 Apr 2023 – 4 May 2023
+− 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
278MW
Total radiative power on 28 April 2023; hotspots that day: 53.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
28 Apr 2023
+− 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
30.4FWI · high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 6.
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
34.2°C · 26% RH
High of 34.2 °C and minimum humidity of 26% on 4 May 2023; gusts of 47 km/h on 30 April 2023.
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 2.9 ha of built-up area (100 m grid, epoch 2025).
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: 1,572 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
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
34°high
47km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity
It had gone 6 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.2 mm on 10 May.
This area had burned before
73% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 601 ha in 2016, 1,519 ha in 2019, 29 ha in 2021, 546 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,851 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 2025
Built-up area2.9ha
Residents≈ 150
Inside the perimeter there were about 2.9 hectares of built-up land and about 150 residents (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
According to CONAFOR, 3 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 1,572 ha (the satellite measured 2,552 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)
23 Apr
31.5 °C
32 %
35 km/h
1.0 mm
High 30
24 Apr
30.5 °C
31 %
35 km/h
0.1 mm
High 26
25 Apr
33.5 °C
23 %
34 km/h
0.0 mm
High 30
26 Apr
33.1 °C
23 %
35 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 39
27 Apr
32.9 °C
27 %
38 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 43
28 Apr
33.6 °C
19 %
37 km/h
0.0 mm
High 37
29 Apr
33.1 °C
19 %
43 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 40
30 Apr
29.1 °C
41 %
47 km/h
0.0 mm
High 31
1 May
32.9 °C
31 %
32 km/h
0.0 mm
High 26
2 May
31.8 °C
36 %
31 km/h
1.4 mm
High 30
3 May
34.1 °C
27 %
28 km/h
0.0 mm
Moderate 18
4 May
34.2 °C
26 %
32 km/h
0.2 mm
High 29
5 May after
35.5 °C
24 %
30 km/h
0.0 mm
High 30
6 May after
35.5 °C
18 %
32 km/h
0.0 mm
High 34
7 May after
35.1 °C
19 %
29 km/h
0.0 mm
High 34
8 May after
35.1 °C
25 %
28 km/h
0.2 mm
High 31
9 May after
33.2 °C
29 %
37 km/h
0.7 mm
High 26
10 May after
30.3 °C
49 %
32 km/h
5.2 mm
Moderate 14
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 30.4, a minimum humidity of 32% and 6 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 21.
FWI at the start30.4
Minimum humidity32 %
Days without rain6
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Villa Corzo fire, 23 April 2023
2,552 ha12 daysFWI 30.4Min. humidity 32 %
Chicomuselo fire, April 2016
3,691 ha13 daysFWI 31.3Min. humidity 34 %75 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.0 mm on 18 May.
It burned an area similar to its twins (2,552 ha against a median of 2,605 ha) and lasted 12 days, against 12 days.
In 5 of 21, 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 3.0 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
5.2 mmfirst rain
10 May6 days after it ended
47km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 4 May, and on 10 May 5.2 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 16 of 21, with a median of 3.0 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.
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 16 Apr 2023
After · 11 May 2023
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
The smoke
CAMS · Copernicus
On 5 May 2023 the air beside the fire reached 76 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 55: 3.7 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak76µg/m³
Days over the guideline12days
PM10111µg/m³
Optical depth1.45
WHO 15
25 Apr28 Apr1 May4 May7 May
GoodFairModeratePoorVery poorExtremely poor
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table· 130Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.›
⬇ Download CSVTimes in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 23 April 2023 to 4 May 2023 (12 days). The perimeter dates it from 27 April 2023 to 4 May 2023.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,552 hectares (25.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Villa Corzo (1,588 ha, 0.6 %); Villaflores (980 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.2 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 47 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.
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: 21. Their median duration was 12 days and their median area 2,605 ha; 100 % went past 1,000 ha. In 5 of 21, 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 3.0 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 27 April 2023 to 4 May 2023. 130 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with CONAFOR: 1,572 official ha against 2,552 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 2025, 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.