Cabuérniga fire, 21 February 2021
Cabuérniga, Los Tojos
Out · last measured on 21 Feb 2021
The fire started on 21 February 2021 in Cabuérniga, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 383 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 21th largest in Cantabria since 2016 (of 179 with a page). Number 30 in Spain in 2021, of 120.
matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
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Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Burned area
with caveats
383ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
This page383EGIF (MITECO)510
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus)
Date
perimeter revised on 26 January 2022
+− cross-check
EGIF (MITECO): 510 ha (matched records: 4). Difference between the page and the official record: −24.8%. Matched on 1 November 2026. The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Duration by satellite
satellite only
1day
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 only
21 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
The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Danger at the start
model
0.1FWI · very low
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 2.
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
model
12.0°C · 47% RH
High of 12.0 °C and minimum humidity of 47% on 21 February 2021; gusts of 44 km/h on 21 February 2021.
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
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official EGIF (MITECO) record
Nearby records with very different figures: 510 ha (records: 4).
A 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 cabuerniga-2021-02-5.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
12
3.2
47
13.2
44.3
9.9
0.1
muy_bajo
1
2021-02-22
0
0
8.8
3.6
59
15.2
37.8
9
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), EGIF (MITECO), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). 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
383ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
21 Feb 2021 – 21 Feb 2021
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
21 Feb
2021
Danger at start
0
Very low · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
12°high
44km/h · peak gust
47%lowest humidity
It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 9.0 mm on 22 Feb.
This area had burned before
43% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 152 ha in 2017, 49 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 164 ha that had burned before.
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
Other natural land78 %
Broadleaved forest14 %
Scrub and transitional woodland6.8 %
Agricultural areas1.0 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2020
Built-up area< 0.1ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (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.
According to EGIF (MITECO), 4 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 510 ha (the satellite measured 383 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
EGIF (MITECO) 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.
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)
21 Feb
12.0 °C
47 %
44 km/h
9.9 mm
Very low 0
22 Feb after
8.8 °C
59 %
38 km/h
9.0 mm
Very low 0
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 0.1, a minimum humidity of 47% and 2 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 30.
FWI at the start0.1
Minimum humidity47 %
Days without rain2
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Cabuérniga fire, 21 February 2021
383 ha1 dayFWI 0.1Min. humidity 47 %
Los Tojos fire, March 2021
120 ha1 dayFWI 0.4Min. humidity 48 %4 km away, in 2021
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 2.8 mm on 5 Mar.
It was 2.6 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 1 day, against 2 days.
Only 2 of its 30 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. In 1 of 30, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 6.1 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
9.0 mmfirst rain
22 Febthe day after it ended
44km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 21 Feb, and on 22 Feb 9.0 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 29 of 30, with a median of 6.1 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.
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 · Copernicus
On 21 February 2021 the air beside the fire reached 42 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 23: 1.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak42µg/m³
Days over the guideline3days
PM1070µg/m³
WHO 15
19 Feb21 Feb23 Feb
GoodFairModeratePoorVery poorExtremely 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)
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 383 hectares (3.8 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Cabuérniga (235 ha, 2.7 %); Los Tojos (148 ha, 1.7 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire came within 1.4 km of the centre of Los Tojos, the closest of the areas it touched. 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 12.0 °C, humidity dropped to 47 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 0, class Very low.
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.
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: 30. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 150 ha; 0 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 2 of its 30 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. In 1 of 30, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 6.1 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.
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 errorHow 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.
Compared with EGIF (MITECO): 510 official ha against 383 ha of perimeter; similar, but with reservations.
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.
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.