How long did the Aveiro fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 17 August 2017 and 17 August 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 17 August 2017 at 13:52 and declared extinguished on 17 August 2017.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 132 hectares (1.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Eixo e Eirol (128 ha, 5.7 %); Requeixo, Nossa Senhora de Fátima e Nariz (4 ha, 0.1 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.5 km of Eixo e Eirol. 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 30.4 °C, humidity dropped to 42 % and gusts hit 46 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 Portugal (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

PT · Portugal · 2017-08-17 → 2017-08-17

Aveiro fire, August 2017 Eixo e Eirol, Requeixo, Nossa Senhora de Fátima e Nariz

Out · last detection 17 Aug 2017, 13:03 UTC

The fire started on 17 August 2017 in Eixo e Eirol, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 132 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 17 August 2017 at 13:52 and declared extinguished on 17 August 2017.

Number 177 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

Burnt area: 132ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 1day; 17 Aug 2017 – 17 Aug 2017
Municipalities hit: 2; freguesias
Started on: 17 Aug; 2017
Heat detections: 2; in a single hotspot: 56 MW
Danger at start: 31; High · FWI index
Energy released: 112MW; sum of detected power

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Aug17 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

30°high

46km/h · peak gust

42%lowest humidity

It had gone 49 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

Eixo e Eirol 6,190 inhabitants · 1.5 km from the town where it started

128 ha reached on 17 Aug

5.7 %
Requeixo, Nossa Senhora de Fátima e Nariz 4,383 inhabitants · 2.9 km from the town

4 ha

0.1 %

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

Mixed forest68 %
Broadleaved forest19 %
Other natural land11 %
Agricultural areas0.8 %
Artificial surfaces0.8 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 17 August 2017 and burned 116 ha (the satellite measured 132 ha).

Aveiro Eirol 17 August 2017 · 13:52 116 ha · extinguished on 17 August 2017 · cause: arson

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)
17 Aug	30.4 °C	42 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	High 31
18 Aug after	28.3 °C	54 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
19 Aug after	32.0 °C	38 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
20 Aug after	38.3 °C	22 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 47
21 Aug after	32.4 °C	37 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
22 Aug after	28.7 °C	50 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
23 Aug after	27.2 °C	53 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
24 Aug after	25.1 °C	56 %	34 km/h	0.1 mm	High 23
25 Aug after	26.9 °C	42 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
26 Aug after	27.9 °C	44 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
27 Aug after	25.4 °C	52 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 10 Aug 2017

After · 24 Aug 2017

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 20 August 2017 the air beside the fire reached 20 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak20 µg/m³

Days over the guideline0 days

PM1034 µg/m³

WHO 15

151617181920

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 · 2Every 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 Aveiro fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 17 August 2017 and 17 August 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 17 August 2017 at 13:52 and declared extinguished on 17 August 2017.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 132 hectares (1.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Eixo e Eirol (128 ha, 5.7 %); Requeixo, Nossa Senhora de Fátima e Nariz (4 ha, 0.1 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.5 km of Eixo e Eirol. 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 30.4 °C, humidity dropped to 42 % and gusts hit 46 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 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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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