The fire started on 16 August 2021 in Alcaracejos, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 545 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 5th largest in Córdoba since 2016 (of 16 with a page). Number 20 in Spain in 2021, of 120.
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
545ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
This page545EGIF (MITECO)379
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus)
Date
perimeter revised on 26 January 2022
+− cross-check
EGIF (MITECO): 379 ha (matched records: 1). Difference between the page and the official record: +43.9%. 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
2days
16 Aug 2021 to 17 Aug 2021: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 17 Aug 2021, 01:48 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
16 Aug 2021
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
16 Aug 2021
+− 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
16
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 175 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
Date
16 Aug 2021 – 17 Aug 2021
+− 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
1,675MW
Total radiative power on 16 August 2021; hotspots that day: 10.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
16 Aug 2021
+− 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
58.9FWI · extreme
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 58.
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
38.1°C · 9% RH
High of 38.1 °C and minimum humidity of 9% on 16 August 2021; gusts of 37 km/h on 16 August 2021.
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.
ⓘ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
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official EGIF (MITECO) record
Nearby records with very different figures: 379 ha (records: 1).
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
38°high
37km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity
It had gone 58 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.7 mm on 23 Aug.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
How big is it?
It burned the equivalent of 0.3% of the area of London (5.4 km² against 1,583 km²).
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
It burned the equivalent of 0.9% of the area of Madrid (5.4 km² against 604 km²).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
It burned the equivalent of 5.2% of the area of Paris (5.4 km² against 105 km²).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
It burned the equivalent of 0.6% of the area of Berlin (5.4 km² against 892 km²).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
Fire perimeterLondon
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
Alcaracejos1,512 inhabitants · 13.1 km from the centrewhere it started
545 hareached on 16 Aug
3.1 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the official 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.
What burned
Sclerophyllous scrub51 %
Agricultural areas34 %
Broadleaved forest5.9 %
Mixed forest4.6 %
Scrub and transitional woodland4.4 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Official record
According to EGIF (MITECO), this fire started on 16 August 2021 and burned 379 ha (the satellite measured 545 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
AlcaracejosPuerto Calatraveño16 August 2021 · 14:38379 ha· extinguished on 20 August 2021· cause: negligence
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)
It stayed below its twins: 545 ha against a median of 822 ha. It lasted 2 days, against 2 days.
In 27 of 30, 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
1.7 mmfirst rain
23 Aug6 days after it ended
37km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 17 Aug, and on 23 Aug 1.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 3 of 30, 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 · 9 Aug 2021
After · 24 Aug 2021
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 14 August 2021 the air beside the fire reached 32 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 30: 2.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak32µg/m³
Days over the guideline3days
PM1074µg/m³
WHO 15
14 Aug16 Aug18 Aug20 Aug
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· 16Every 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.
Copernicus dates it between 16 August 2021 and 17 August 2021: 2 days between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 545 hectares (5.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Alcaracejos (545 ha, 3.1 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Alcaracejos and came within 13.1 km of its centre. That is the distance from the perimeter, or the nearest hotspot, to the point marking the centre; it does not mean it entered the houses.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.1 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 59, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Spain (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: 30. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 822 ha; 37 % went past 1,000 ha. In 27 of 30, 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: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 16 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with EGIF (MITECO): 379 official ha against 545 ha of perimeter; similar, but with reservations.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
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 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.