Añón de Moncayo fire, August 2022
Borja, Vera de Moncayo, Alcalá de Moncayo
Out · last detection 19 Aug 2022, 02:06 UTC
The fire started on 14 August 2022 in Añón de Moncayo, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 9,195 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 10 municipalities.
It is the 3th largest in Zaragoza since 2016 (of 18 with a page). Number 9 in Spain in 2022, of 196.
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
9,195ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
This page9,195EGIF (MITECO)5,891
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus)
Date
perimeter revised on 17 August 2022
+− cross-check
EGIF (MITECO): 5,891 ha (matched records: 1). Difference between the page and the official record: +56.1%. 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
with caveats
6days
14 Aug 2022 to 19 Aug 2022: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 19 Aug 2022, 02:06 UTC
+− cross-check
According to the press and agencies we checked, it was declared over on 26 August 2022.
Start
satellite only
14 Aug 2022
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
14 Aug 2022
+− 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
243
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 123 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
Date
14 Aug 2022 – 19 Aug 2022
+− 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
2,471MW
Total radiative power on 14 August 2022; hotspots that day: 231.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
14 Aug 2022
+− 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
39.6FWI · very high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 0.
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
32.8°C · 13% RH
High of 32.8 °C and minimum humidity of 13% on 14 August 2022; gusts of 60 km/h on 18 August 2022.
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.
Living inside
model
≈ 600people
Estimated residents inside the perimeter and 14 ha of built-up area (100 m grid, epoch 2020).
Source
GHSL R2023A · JRC
Date
calculated on 24 October 2026
+− cross-check
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
ⓘ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: 5,891 ha (records: 1).
· reconstructedweather
Weather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
· reconstructedGHSL
Population and built-up area computed
· reconstructedpress
Cross-check with press and agencies published
BOE - Gobierno de Aragón (Decreto-ley 7/2022) · Aragón Noticias (CARTV) · Aragón Digital · COPE Aragón
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
CSV for this fire anon-de-moncayo-2022-08.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
fecha
focos_viirs
frp_mw
tmax_c
tmin_c
hr_min_pct
viento_max_kmh
racha_max_kmh
precip_mm
fwi
clase_fwi
dentro_del_incendio
2022-08-14
231
2,471
32.8
18.8
13
16.8
40.3
0
39.6
muy_alto
1
2022-08-15
10
29
32.2
15.1
17
11.8
30.6
0
36
alto
1
2022-08-16
1
7
32.4
17.3
19
19
50.4
0.1
43.8
muy_alto
1
2022-08-17
0
0
26.3
14.9
34
23.9
48.2
3.8
10.9
bajo
1
2022-08-18
0
0
23.1
15
45
24.4
59.8
0.2
19.2
moderado
1
2022-08-19
1
1
29.1
13.1
28
16.3
44.6
0
26
alto
1
2022-08-20
0
0
34.3
14.1
20
13.3
32
0
32.9
alto
0
2022-08-21
0
0
31.7
18.4
32
20.9
49.3
0.1
37.3
alto
0
2022-08-22
0
0
27.6
17.2
47
20.2
51.5
0
28
alto
0
2022-08-23
0
0
33.4
17.2
30
13.9
34.6
0
28.8
alto
0
2022-08-24
0
0
35.4
20.9
29
19
35.6
7.6
12.6
moderado
0
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: EFFIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), EGIF (MITECO), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
Burnt area
9,195ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
6days
14 Aug 2022 – 19 Aug 2022
Municipalities hit
10
municipalities
Started on
14 Aug
2022
Heat detections
243
in a single hotspot: 123 MW
Danger at start
40
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
626MW
detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
14 Aug19 Aug
Play back19 Aug 2022
How it evolved, day by day
14 Aug15 Aug16 Aug19 Aug
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
33°high
60km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity
It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 7.6 mm on 24 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 5.8% of the area of London (92 km² against 1,583 km²).
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
It burned the equivalent of 15% of the area of Madrid (92 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 87% of the area of Paris (92 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 10% of the area of Berlin (92 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.
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.
Natura 2000 sites (European Environment Agency, 2024 release) crossed by the perimeter.
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2020
Built-up area14ha
Residents≈ 600
Inside the perimeter there were about 14 hectares of built-up land and about 600 residents (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
According to EGIF (MITECO), this fire started on 13 August 2022 and burned 5,891 ha (the satellite measured 9,195 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Añón de MoncayoEl Molino13 August 2022 · 15:115,891 ha· extinguished on 26 August 2022· 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 was 23.1 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 6 days, against 2 days.
Only 1 of its 33 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 7 of 33, 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 2.1 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
7.6 mmfirst rain
24 Aug5 days after it ended
60km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 19 Aug, and on 24 Aug 7.6 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 26 of 33, with a median of 2.1 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 · 7 Aug 2022
After · 26 Aug 2022
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 2022 the air beside the fire reached 22 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak22µg/m³
Days over the guideline0days
PM1051µg/m³
Optical depth0.53
WHO 15
12 Aug15 Aug18 Aug21 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· 243Every 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.
Date and time
Satellite
FRP (MW)
Lat
Lon
Frequently asked questions
How long did the Añón de Moncayo fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 14 August 2022 to 19 August 2022 (6 days). The perimeter dates it from 14 August 2022 to 15 August 2022.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 9,195 hectares (92.0 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 10 municipalities: Borja (2,610 ha, 24 %); Vera de Moncayo (2,223 ha, 81 %); Alcalá de Moncayo (1,226 ha, 89 %); Ambel (1,215 ha, 20 %); Bulbuente (1,023 ha, 40 %); Tarazona (354 ha, 1.4 %); Añón de Moncayo (329 ha, 5.1 %); Trasmoz (117 ha, 6.4 %); El Buste (79 ha, 10 %); Litago (28 ha, 1.8 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Añón de Moncayo and reached its centre: the point marking it was inside the burnt area or less than 500 metres from it. That does not mean houses burned.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.8 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 60 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, class Very high.
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: 33. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 398 ha; 21 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 1 of its 33 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 7 of 33, 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 2.1 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 adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 14 August 2022 to 15 August 2022. 243 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with EGIF (MITECO): 5,891 official ha against 9,195 ha of perimeter; similar, but with reservations.
Checked against news and agencies: 4 confirmed sources.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.