Burned area
satellite only552ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- perimeter revised on 26 January 2022
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
FR · France ·
Biriatou fire, February 2021 Biriatou, Urrugne
Out · last measured on 21 Feb 2021
The fire started on 21 February 2021 in Biriatou, France, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 552 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
This record is most likely a pastoral burn (écobuage) in the Pyrenees, not a forest fire. In winter, grassland and scrub are burnt to renew the pasture, and this fire does not appear in France's official forest fire database (BDIFF). That is why it is left out of the fire rankings.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-24matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only1day
21 Feb 2021 to 21 Feb 2021: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 21 Feb 2021 – 21 Feb 2021
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only21 Feb 2021
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 21 Feb 2021
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Danger at the start
model8.5FWI · low
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 8.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 21 Feb 2021, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
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
model16.4°C · 39% RH
High of 16.4 °C and minimum humidity of 39% on 21 February 2021; gusts of 77 km/h on 21 February 2021.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 21 Feb 2021 – 21 Feb 2021
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
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.
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
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
· reconstructed perimeterEFFIS (Copernicus) revises the perimeter
What was saved on 24 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 552 ha
- Dates
- 21 Feb 2021 – 21 Feb 2021
- Name
- Biriatou
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/biriatou-2021-02?v=2026-10-24A 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 biriatou-2021-02.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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-02-21 | 0 | 0 | 16.4 | 11.2 | 39 | 30.2 | 76.7 | 3.8 | 8.5 | bajo | 1 |
| 2021-02-22 | 0 | 0 | 10.4 | 7.8 | 89 | 15.5 | 42.1 | 26.3 | 0 | muy_bajo | 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), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.
- Burnt area
- 552ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 21 Feb 2021 – 21 Feb 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- communes
- Started on
- 21 Feb
- 2021
- Danger at start
- 8
- Low · FWI index
- Natura 2000
- 99%
- of the perimeter is protected land
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
16°high
77km/h · peak gust
39%lowest humidity
It had gone 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 26.3 mm on 22 Feb.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
500 ha45 %
-
Urrugne 10,661 inhabitants · 3.9 km from the centre47 ha0.9 %
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
- Mixed forest60 %
- Other natural land36 %
- Broadleaved forest3.6 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 99 %
- LIC Aiako harria ES2120016
- LIC Massif de la Rhune et de Choldocogagna FR7200760
- LIC Txingudi-Bidasoa ES2120018
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.
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)
Started with Strong wind: 48 % of the area in France
| Day | High | Min. humidity | Peak gust | Rain | Danger (FWI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Feb | 16.4 °C | 39 % | 77 km/h | 3.8 mm | Low 8 |
| 22 Feb after | 10.4 °C | 89 % | 42 km/h | 26.3 mm | Very low 0 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 8.5, a minimum humidity of 39% and 8 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 27.
FWI at the start
8.5
Minimum humidity
39 %
Days without rain
8
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Biriatou fire, February 2021
552 ha
1 day
FWI 8.5
Min. humidity 39 %
Saint-Michel fire, February 2019
113 ha
5 days
FWI 5.7
Min. humidity 41 %
48 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 5.9 mm on 4 Mar.
Vega de Pas fire, March 2023
158 ha
2 days
FWI 9.5
Min. humidity 40 %
165 km away, in 2023
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 6.1 mm on 1 Apr.
Montory fire, March 2026
114 ha
5 days
FWI 3.6
Min. humidity 39 %
76 km away, in 2026
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 2.4 mm on 25 Mar.
Saint-Justin fire, June 2022
191 ha
1 day
FWI 7.2
Min. humidity 40 %
147 km away, in 2022
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 17.7 mm on 22 Jun.
Callen fire, July 2017
640 ha
1 day
FWI 8.6
Min. humidity 36 %
147 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 16.5 mm on 8 Jul.
What happened to them
- 2 days
- median duration
- 163 ha
- median area
- 4 %
- went past 1,000 ha
- 5.9 mm
- rain at the end (median; 27 of 27 had it)
It was 3.4 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 1 day, against 2 days.
Only 2 of its 27 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. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 5.9 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
26.3 mmfirst rain
22 Febthe day after it ended
77km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 21 Feb, and on 22 Feb 26.3 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 27 of 27, with a median of 5.9 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.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 14 Feb 2021
After · 28 Feb 2021
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 · CopernicusOn 21 February 2021 the air beside the fire reached 48 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 31: 2.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak48 µg/m³
Days over the guideline3 days
PM10120 µg/m³
WHO 15
19 Feb21 Feb23 Feb
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)
Other fires nearby
- 1,108 haLesakaFebruary 2021 · 1 day · 2 km away
- 483 haAscainFebruary 2021 · 1 day · 6 km away
- 388 haSaint-Martin-d'Arrossa15 February 2019 · 7 days · 36 km away
- 342 haSaint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry16 February 2023 · 5 days · 36 km away
- 999 haOssèsFebruary 2019 · 8 days · 37 km away
- 488 haSaint-Étienne-de-BaïgorryMarch 2021 · 3 days · 37 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Biriatou fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 21 February 2021 and 21 February 2021: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 552 hectares (5.5 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Biriatou (500 ha, 45 %); Urrugne (47 ha, 0.9 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire started in Biriatou and came within 1.2 km of its centre. That is the distance from the perimeter, or the nearest hotspot, to the point marking the centre; it does not mean it entered the houses.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 16.4 °C, humidity dropped to 39 % and gusts hit 77 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 8, class Low.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of France (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: 27. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 163 ha; 4 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 2 of its 27 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. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 5.9 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.
Emergency number: 112 · 18 · 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 With cross-checks and a citable version
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. No Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- We have not matched this page with any official record.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
- Probably a vegetation burn: not counted in the totals.
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 ADM5 (Open Data Commons Attribution License 1.0). 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.