How long did the Águeda fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 28 April 2017 and 28 April 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 28 April 2017 at 00:52 and declared extinguished on 28 April 2017.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 252 hectares (2.5 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 5.2 km of União das Freguesias de Belazaima do Chão, Castanheira do Vouga e Agadão. 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 20.2 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, 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.

PT · Portugal · 2017-04-28 → 2017-04-28

Águeda fire, April 2017 União das Freguesias de Belazaima do Chão, Castanheira do Vouga e Agadão, Aguada de Cima

Out · last detection 28 Apr 2017, 03:02 UTC

The fire started on 28 April 2017 in União das Freguesias de Belazaima do Chão, Castanheira do Vouga e Agadão, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 252 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 28 April 2017 at 00:52 and declared extinguished on 28 April 2017.

Number 134 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

Burnt area: 252ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 1day; 28 Apr 2017 – 28 Apr 2017
Municipalities hit: 2; freguesias
Started on: 28 Apr; 2017
Heat detections: 22; in a single hotspot: 80 MW
Danger at start: 25; High · FWI index
Energy released: 724MW; sum of detected power

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 28 Apr28 Apr

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

20°high

53km/h · peak gust

25%lowest humidity

It had gone 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 12.8 mm on 30 Apr.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

União das Freguesias de Belazaima do Chão, Castanheira do Vouga e Agadão 639 inhabitants · 5.2 km from the town where it started

252 ha reached on 28 Apr

2.9 %
Aguada de Cima 3,894 inhabitants · 6.3 km from the town

1 ha reached on 28 Apr

0.0 %

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

Scrub and transitional woodland63 %
Broadleaved forest37 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 28 April 2017 and burned 282 ha (the satellite measured 252 ha).

Águeda Belazaima do Chão 28 April 2017 · 00:52 282 ha · extinguished on 28 April 2017 · cause: unknown

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)
28 Apr	20.2 °C	25 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
29 Apr after	17.9 °C	44 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
30 Apr after	13.6 °C	58 %	66 km/h	12.8 mm	Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 21 Apr 2017

After · 5 May 2017

Before After

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 28 April 2017 the air beside the fire reached 13 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak13 µg/m³

Days over the guideline0 days

PM1019 µg/m³

26272829301

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)

Detections table · 22Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.

⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.

Date and time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Portugal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Águeda fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 28 April 2017 and 28 April 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 28 April 2017 at 00:52 and declared extinguished on 28 April 2017.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 252 hectares (2.5 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: União das Freguesias de Belazaima do Chão, Castanheira do Vouga e Agadão (252 ha, 2.9 %); Aguada de Cima (1 ha, 0.0 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 5.2 km of União das Freguesias de Belazaima do Chão, Castanheira do Vouga e Agadão. 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 20.2 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, 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

NASA FIRMS ↗
EFFIS · Copernicus ↗

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.

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What really happened?

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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.

Where it burned