Yécora fire, June 2017 Yécora, Sahuaripa
The fire started on 9 June 2017 in Yécora, Mexico, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,502 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities. According to CONAFOR, it was detected on 9 June 2017 and declared extinguished on 23 June 2017.
It is the 27th largest in Sonora since 2016 (of 93 with a page). Number 53 in Mexico in 2017, of 375.
- Burnt area
- 5,502ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 11days
- 9 Jun 2017 – 19 Jun 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 9 Jun
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 394
- in a single hotspot: 80 MW
- Danger at start
- 20
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 3.1GW
- 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: 5.7 mm on 24 Jun.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Yécora where it started5,311 ha reached on 9 Jun2.0 %
-
213 ha reached on 16 Jun0.0 %
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 9 June 2017 and burned 4,979 ha (the satellite measured 5,502 ha).
- Yécora Maicoba 9 June 2017 4,979 ha · extinguished on 23 June 2017 · cause: natural (lightning)
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Jun | 30.5 °C | 35 % | 34 km/h | 0.5 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 10 Jun | 31.2 °C | 28 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 11 Jun | 30.3 °C | 30 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 12 Jun | 31.4 °C | 26 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 13 Jun | 33.9 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 14 Jun | 35.5 °C | 17 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 15 Jun | 35.9 °C | 16 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 16 Jun | 34.8 °C | 17 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 17 Jun | 34.0 °C | 20 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 18 Jun | 35.1 °C | 22 % | 46 km/h | 0.9 mm | High 36 |
| 19 Jun | 37.3 °C | 21 % | 46 km/h | 2.0 mm | High 32 |
| 20 Jun after | 37.0 °C | 21 % | 45 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 40 |
| 21 Jun after | 36.7 °C | 18 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 22 Jun after | 31.7 °C | 42 % | 34 km/h | 1.2 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 23 Jun after | 32.7 °C | 33 % | 41 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 28 |
| 24 Jun after | 36.5 °C | 26 % | 42 km/h | 5.7 mm | Moderate 14 |
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 · 394Every 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 Yécora fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 June 2017 and 19 June 2017: 11 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter. According to CONAFOR, it was detected on 9 June 2017 and declared extinguished on 23 June 2017.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 5,502 hectares (55.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Yécora (5,311 ha, 2.0 %); Sahuaripa (213 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.3 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, 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
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.