How long did the Amarante fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 7 August 2016 and 8 August 2016: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 7 August 2016 at 13:46 and declared extinguished on 8 August 2016.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 114 hectares (1.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Salvador do Monte (58 ha, 7.6 %); Várzea, Aliviada e Folhada (56 ha, 2.4 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.9 km of Salvador do Monte. 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 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, class Very 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 · 2016-08-07 → 2016-08-08

Amarante fire, August 2016 Salvador do Monte, Várzea, Aliviada e Folhada

Out · last detection 7 Aug 2016, 13:35 UTC

The fire started on 7 August 2016 in Salvador do Monte, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 114 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 7 August 2016 at 13:46 and declared extinguished on 8 August 2016.

It is the 10th largest in Amarante since 2016 (of 11 with a page). Number 166 in Portugal in 2016, of 179.

Burnt area: 114ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 2days; 7 Aug 2016 – 8 Aug 2016
Municipalities hit: 2; freguesias
Started on: 7 Aug; 2016
Heat detections: 1; in a single hotspot: 61 MW
Danger at start: 45; Very high · FWI index
Energy released: 61MW; sum of detected power

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 7 Aug8 Aug

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

38°high

49km/h · peak gust

20%lowest humidity

It had gone 31 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 17 Aug.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

Salvador do Monte 894 inhabitants · 0.9 km from the town where it started

58 ha reached on 7 Aug

7.6 %
Várzea, Aliviada e Folhada 2,346 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the town

56 ha

2.4 %

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 woodland64 %
Agricultural areas20 %
Mixed forest12 %
Artificial surfaces4.6 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 7 August 2016 and burned 128 ha (the satellite measured 114 ha).

Amarante Salvador do Monte 7 August 2016 · 13:46 128 ha · extinguished on 8 August 2016 · 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)
7 Aug	37.3 °C	20 %	49 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
8 Aug	37.7 °C	21 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
9 Aug after	32.5 °C	33 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
10 Aug after	29.8 °C	27 %	62 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
11 Aug after	30.4 °C	28 %	51 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43
12 Aug after	32.3 °C	27 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
13 Aug after	31.9 °C	23 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
14 Aug after	31.5 °C	36 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
15 Aug after	29.4 °C	47 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
16 Aug after	26.5 °C	49 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
17 Aug after	25.5 °C	60 %	36 km/h	1.2 mm	Moderate 12

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 31 Jul 2016

After · 15 Aug 2016

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 8 August 2016 the air beside the fire reached 37 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 25: 1.6 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak37 µg/m³

Days over the guideline5 days

PM1066 µg/m³

WHO 15

567891011

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 · 1Every 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 Amarante fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 7 August 2016 and 8 August 2016: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 7 August 2016 at 13:46 and declared extinguished on 8 August 2016.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 114 hectares (1.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Salvador do Monte (58 ha, 7.6 %); Várzea, Aliviada e Folhada (56 ha, 2.4 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.9 km of Salvador do Monte. 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 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, class Very 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