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Ansião fire, July 2022 Almoster, Freixianda, Ribeira do Fárrio e Formigais, Pelmá

Out · last detection 14 Jul 2022, 01:41 UTC

The fire started on 7 July 2022 in Freixianda, Ribeira do Fárrio e Formigais, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 8,311 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 11 municipalities. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 8 July 2022 at 14:50 and declared extinguished on 16 July 2022.

Number 2 in Portugal in 2022, of 107.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Pombal · 2017Alvaiazere · 2017Ferreira do Zêzere · 2017Leiria · 2022

Burnt area
8,311ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
8days
7 Jul 2022 – 14 Jul 2022
Municipalities hit
11
freguesias
Started on
7 Jul
2022
Heat detections
203
in a single hotspot: 195 MW
Danger at start
46
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
352MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 7 Jul14 Jul
14 Jul 2022

How it evolved, day by day

8 Jul 2022 · 717 MW · 54 9 Jul 2022 · 1,041 MW · 80 10 Jul 2022 · 124 MW · 20 11 Jul 2022 · 3 MW · 4 12 Jul 2022 · 50 MW · 2 13 Jul 2022 · 506 MW · 32 14 Jul 2022 · 25 MW · 11
8 Jul 9 Jul 10 Jul 11 Jul 12 Jul 13 Jul 14 Jul

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

44°high
55km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone 11 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

3% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 215 ha in 2017, 24 ha in 2019.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 5.2% of the area of London (83 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Almoster 600 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    1,809 ha reached on 9 Jul
    70 %
  2. Freixianda, Ribeira do Fárrio e Formigais 3,226 inhabitants · fire reached the centre where it started
    1,647 ha reached on 8 Jul
    26 %
  3. Pelmá 637 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    1,328 ha reached on 9 Jul
    43 %
  4. Santiago da Guarda 2,652 inhabitants · 1.4 km from the centre
    1,177 ha reached on 13 Jul
    28 %
  5. Abiul 2,236 inhabitants · 2.8 km from the centre
    1,173 ha reached on 9 Jul
    22 %
  6. Pousaflores 802 inhabitants · 1.0 km from the centre
    663 ha reached on 9 Jul
    26 %
  7. Chãos 465 inhabitants · 1.6 km from the centre
    214 ha reached on 10 Jul
    9.2 %
  8. União das Freguesias de Areias e Pias 1,553 inhabitants · 5.5 km from the centre
    155 ha
    3.4 %
  9. Ansião 3,525 inhabitants · 2.0 km from the centre
    152 ha reached on 13 Jul
    4.0 %
  10. Pussos São Pedro 1,697 inhabitants · 5.6 km from the centre
    2 ha
    0.1 %
  11. Alvaiázere 1,810 inhabitants · 5.4 km from the centre
    0 ha
    0.0 %

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

  • Scrub and transitional woodland37 %
  • Agricultural areas28 %
  • Coniferous forest16 %
  • Mixed forest12 %
  • Broadleaved forest3.8 %
  • Sclerophyllous scrub2.7 %
  • Other natural land1.2 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 40 %

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 area64 ha
Residents≈ 2,100

Inside the perimeter there were about 64 hectares of built-up land and about 2,100 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.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

Official record

Complex of 2 fires according to ICNF

According to ICNF, 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 8,072 ha (the satellite measured 8,311 ha).

ICNF records each fire that started at a different time or place separately; the satellite sees a single burned area, so this page groups them together. The numbers on the map show where each one started.

When each one burned

1 2,936 ha 2 5,136 ha
7 Jul17 Jul
arson
  1. 1 Ourém Freixianda 7 July 2022 · 16:37 2,936 ha · extinguished on 17 July 2022 · cause: arson
  2. 2 Ansião Pousaflores 8 July 2022 · 14:50 5,136 ha · extinguished on 16 July 2022 · cause: arson

Total according to ICNF: 8,072 ha, 97 % of the 8,311 ha in the satellite perimeter.

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.

Checked against the press

Checked on 30 September 2026

We checked this page against 3 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:

Also known as
Incêndio de Vale da Pia (Pombal) · Incêndio de Pombal, Ansião e Alvaiázere · Incêndio de Ourém
According to the sources, several fires that ended up merging:
  • Vale da Pia 8 July 2022 565 ha
  • Ourém (Santarém) 7 July 2022 2,984 ha

Sources

Official figures are measured differently from satellite ones and sometimes cover only part of the fire.

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 Jul 36.1 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
8 Jul 37.7 °C 13 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
9 Jul 39.7 °C 13 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
10 Jul 33.7 °C 27 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
11 Jul 34.4 °C 27 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
12 Jul 41.8 °C 10 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 70
13 Jul 43.5 °C 9 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 86
14 Jul 41.3 °C 12 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 77
15 Jul after 38.3 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
16 Jul after 37.6 °C 23 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
17 Jul after 37.1 °C 21 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
18 Jul after 30.1 °C 32 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
19 Jul after 27.3 °C 41 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
20 Jul after 33.4 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
21 Jul after 31.0 °C 38 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Jul after 32.4 °C 30 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
23 Jul after 34.4 °C 25 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
24 Jul after 32.2 °C 31 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 30 Jun 2022
After · 21 Jul 2022

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 9 July 2022 the air beside the fire reached 37 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 24: 1.6 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak37 µg/m³
Days over the guideline6 days
PM1054 µg/m³
567891011121314151617
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 · 203Every 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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Portugal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ansião fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 7 July 2022 to 14 July 2022 (8 days). The perimeter dates it from 7 July 2022 to 13 July 2022. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 8 July 2022 at 14:50 and declared extinguished on 16 July 2022.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 8,311 hectares (83.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 11 municipalities: Almoster (1,809 ha, 70 %); Freixianda, Ribeira do Fárrio e Formigais (1,647 ha, 26 %); Pelmá (1,328 ha, 43 %); Santiago da Guarda (1,177 ha, 28 %); Abiul (1,173 ha, 22 %); Pousaflores (663 ha, 26 %); Chãos (214 ha, 9.2 %); União das Freguesias de Areias e Pias (155 ha, 3.4 %); Ansião (152 ha, 4.0 %); Pussos São Pedro (2 ha, 0.1 %); Alvaiázere (0 ha, 0.0 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Freixianda, Ribeira do Fárrio e Formigais 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 43.5 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 86, class Very extreme.
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 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 7 July 2022 to 13 July 2022. 203 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • Compared with ICNF: 8,072 official ha against 8,311 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
  • Checked against news and agencies: 3 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.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.