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PT · 2017 yearbook

Wildfires in Portugal in 2017

211 fires larger than 100 hectares in Portugal in 2017, with 551,919 hectares burned according to their perimeters. Here is the whole year: what the official record says, when and where it burned and what the weather was like.

Only fires of 100 ha or more get an entry: smaller ones are not in the lists or the entry totals, but they are in the official yearly series.

These figures leave out 7 burns that were probably not wildfires (agricultural, pasture, reed-bed or prescribed). They appear in the lists, marked.

The year in a few sentences

  1. According to ICNF (Statistics Portugal), 541,496 hectares burned in Portugal in 2017: 5.5 times the average of the other years from 2011 to 2025 (98,344 ha). It is the year with the most burned area of the 15 in the record.

    ICNF (Statistics Portugal) · See the data

  2. The worst week was 15 October to 21 October: 206,198 hectares burned in seven days, 37% of the year according to Copernicus EFFIS.

    Copernicus EFFIS · See the data

  3. The largest fire was the Pombeiro da Beira fire, which started on 14 October 2017 and burned 132,830 hectares: 24% of the area of the year's 211 fires with a page.

    WorldFires · See the data · Open the fire page

Official burned area
541k ha
Copernicus EFFIS · ×5.5 the average
Fires with a page
211
551,919 ha within their perimeters
Largest fire
133k ha
Pombeiro da Beira · 14 Oct
Highest FWI
—
Not yet calculated with the current method

Map of the year

Copernicus EFFIS
One circle per fire, sized by its area. Tap one to open its page.

Month by month

Hectares within the perimeters by the month the fire started. Tap a month to see it on the map.

Week by week, against other years

Copernicus EFFIS

Cumulative burned area in 2017 over the lowest and highest of each week in the record since 2006, and its average. The bars below show what burned each week. Tap the chart to see a week. The average and the band are the Copernicus EFFIS climatology for 2006–2025, which includes 2017 itself.

0 188k 376k 564k Worst week · 206k ha Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov
2017 average 2006–2025 lowest and highest Hectares each week

Every year since 2011

ICNF (Statistics Portugal)

Hectares burned per year in the official record. Tap a year to open its yearbook.

2017: 541,496 ha Average of the other years: 98,344 ha

Cite this

Markdown version

Copy the sentences with their source and link. WorldFires data are CC BY 4.0: credit WorldFires and the original source.

- According to ICNF (Statistics Portugal), 541,496 hectares burned in Portugal in 2017: 5.5 times the average of the other years from 2011 to 2025 (98,344 ha). It is the year with the most burned area of the 15 in the record.
- The worst week was 15 October to 21 October: 206,198 hectares burned in seven days, 37% of the year according to Copernicus EFFIS.
- The largest fire was the Pombeiro da Beira fire, which started on 14 October 2017 and burned 132,830 hectares: 24% of the area of the year's 211 fires with a page.

WorldFires, “Wildfires in Portugal in 2017”, https://worldfires.org/en/country/portugal/2017 (accessed 6 November 2026). Sources: ICNF (Statistics Portugal), Copernicus EFFIS, WorldFires.

Fires of 2017, largest first · 218

Sources and limits

Fire-page areas are satellite-measured perimeters and may differ from official statistics. The yearly and weekly record is the Copernicus EFFIS estimate. The FWI is our own calculation from ERA5 at each fire's location: it is not an official danger warning.

Official information for Portugal is published by: ICNF · Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas · ANEPC · Proteção Civil · Fogos.pt (ocorrências em tempo real)

Perimeters: Copernicus EFFIS and GWIS (and MTBS, NIFC or NBAC in North America). Hotspots: NASA FIRMS (VIIRS). Weather: Copernicus ERA5 via Open-Meteo. How it is calculated