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Abaças fire, June 2017 Abaças, São Martinho de Antas e Paradela de Guiães, Andrães

Out · last measured on 18 Jun 2017

The fire started on 15 June 2017 in Abaças, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 207 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities.

Number 145 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
207ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
4days
15 Jun 2017 – 18 Jun 2017
Municipalities hit
3
freguesias
Started on
15 Jun
2017
Danger at start
18
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

35°high
36km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.0 mm on 19 Jun.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Abaças 836 inhabitants · 2.8 km from the town where it started
    121 ha
    6.4 %
  2. São Martinho de Antas e Paradela de Guiães 948 inhabitants · 1.2 km from the town
    82 ha
    3.2 %
  3. Andrães 1,373 inhabitants · 3.5 km from the town
    5 ha
    0.2 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the official 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.

What burned

  • Other natural land64 %
  • Agricultural areas28 %
  • Scrub and transitional woodland8.2 %

Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.

Official record

According to ICNF, 5 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 557 ha (the satellite measured 207 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.

ICNF (Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas). This is the agency’s operational record: its figures may be revised when the year’s statistics are closed.

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)
15 Jun 30.5 °C 40 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
16 Jun 33.8 °C 28 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
17 Jun 35.1 °C 22 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
18 Jun 33.7 °C 22 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
19 Jun after 31.5 °C 34 % 33 km/h 2.0 mm Low 11

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 8 Jun 2017
After · 25 Jun 2017

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 19 June 2017 the air beside the fire reached 30 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 22: 1.4 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak30 µg/m³
Days over the guideline7 days
PM1039 µg/m³
131415161718192021
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely 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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Portugal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Abaças fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 15 June 2017 and 18 June 2017: 4 days between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 207 hectares (2.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Abaças (121 ha, 6.4 %); São Martinho de Antas e Paradela de Guiães (82 ha, 3.2 %); Andrães (5 ha, 0.2 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.2 km of São Martinho de Antas e Paradela de Guiães. That is the distance to the perimeter or nearest hotspot; it does not mean it entered the houses.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.1 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Portugal (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: 112

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

Where this data comes from

The perimeter and land cover come from the Copernicus European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), measured on MODIS and Sentinel-2 imagery and published under CC BY 4.0. 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 ADM3 (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from each country’s official figure.