Autol fire, July 2021 Quel, Autol, Grávalos
The fire started on 19 July 2021 in Autol, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 330 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 18 July 2021 at 16:15 and declared extinguished on 20 July 2021.
Number 34 in Spain in 2021, of 120.
The power measured by the satellite is low (2.2 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 330ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 19 Jul 2021 – 19 Jul 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 19 Jul
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 5
- in a single hotspot: 2 MW
- Danger at start
- 31
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 8MW
- 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 12 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Quel 2,128 inhabitants · 6.5 km from the town217 ha reached on 19 Jul4.0 %
-
83 ha reached on 19 Jul1.0 %
-
Grávalos 196 inhabitants · 2.0 km from the town30 ha1.0 %
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 forest41 %
- Other natural land20 %
- Sclerophyllous scrub16 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland13 %
- Agricultural areas9.8 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Official record
According to EGIF (MITECO), this fire started on 18 July 2021 and burned 294 ha (the satellite measured 330 ha).
- Autol Fuente el Prado 18 July 2021 · 16:15 294 ha · extinguished on 20 July 2021 · 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.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Jul | 31.8 °C | 22 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 20 Jul after | 33.6 °C | 18 % | 37 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 36 |
| 21 Jul after | 34.5 °C | 18 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 22 Jul after | 37.9 °C | 7 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 23 Jul after | 36.0 °C | 11 % | 59 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 24 Jul after | 28.5 °C | 21 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 25 Jul after | 25.4 °C | 34 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 26 Jul after | 26.2 °C | 26 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 27 Jul after | 29.5 °C | 26 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 28 Jul after | 27.7 °C | 32 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 29 Jul after | 30.7 °C | 31 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
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 · 5Every 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 Autol fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 19 July 2021 and 19 July 2021: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 18 July 2021 at 16:15 and declared extinguished on 20 July 2021.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 330 hectares (3.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Quel (217 ha, 4.0 %); Autol (83 ha, 1.0 %); Grávalos (30 ha, 1.0 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 2.0 km of Grávalos. 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 31.8 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 31, class 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.
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.