Argés fire, June 2019 Toledo, Guadamur, Argés
The fire started on 29 June 2019 in Argés, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 1,284 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 5 municipalities.
It is the 3th largest in Toledo since 2016 (of 24 with a page). Number 8 in Spain in 2019, of 102.
- Burnt area
- 1,284ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 29 Jun 2019 – 29 Jun 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 5
- municipalities
- Started on
- 29 Jun
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 22
- in a single hotspot: 44 MW
- Danger at start
- 62
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 192MW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
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
It had gone 58 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.0 mm on 1 Jul.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Toledo 1,796 inhabitants · 4.7 km from the town970 ha reached on 29 Jun4.2 %
-
Guadamur 7,178 inhabitants · 4.0 km from the town182 ha reached on 29 Jun4.8 %
-
Argés where it started126 ha reached on 29 Jun5.4 %
-
Polán 3,941 inhabitants · 7.3 km from the town4 ha0.0 %
-
Albarreal de Tajo 804 inhabitants · 4.9 km from the town2 ha reached on 29 Jun0.1 %
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
- Broadleaved forest57 %
- Other natural land16 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland12 %
- Agricultural areas12 %
- Other land cover2.3 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Official record
According to EGIF (MITECO), this fire started on 28 June 2019 and burned 1,018 ha (the satellite measured 1,284 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
- Toledo Loches-Montesion 28 June 2019 · 16:50 1,018 ha · extinguished on 3 July 2019 · cause: negligence
MITECO, Estadística General de Incendios Forestales (EGIF). This is the agency’s consolidated statistic: it measures the area in its own way, which is why it can differ from the satellite.
Checked against the press
Checked on 30 September 2026We checked this page against 4 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:
- Also known as
- incendio de Toledo · incendio de Montesión y La Bastida · incendio de Cerro de los Palos
- Official area reported: 1,227 ha (the satellite measured 1,284 ha)
Sources
- Asegurada la zona tras el incendio declarado en Montesión y San Bernardo registrado este viernes sin lamentar daños personales — Ayuntamiento de Toledo, 29 June 2019 · official source
- Así se restaurará la zona de San Bernardo tras el incendio más grave registrado en Toledo — Toledo Diario, 17 September 2019
- Ecologistas en Acción solicita al Ayuntamiento de Toledo que no realice fuegos artificiales en Puy du Fou tras incendio en Montesión — Telecinco, 2 July 2019
- Al menos cinco parcelas afectadas y 1.600 hectáreas quemadas: las imágenes del fuego de Toledo — Castilla-La Mancha Media, 29 June 2019
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Jun | 41.6 °C | 13 % | 38 km/h | 0.5 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 30 Jun after | 39.4 °C | 17 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 1 Jul after | 35.6 °C | 27 % | 35 km/h | 3.0 mm | High 23 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
Detections table · 22Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Argés fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 29 June 2019 and 29 June 2019: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 1,284 hectares (12.8 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 5 municipalities: Toledo (970 ha, 4.2 %); Guadamur (182 ha, 4.8 %); Argés (126 ha, 5.4 %); Polán (4 ha, 0.0 %); Albarreal de Tajo (2 ha, 0.1 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 4.0 km of Guadamur. 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 41.6 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 62, 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.
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
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
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 (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.