Caldas de Reis fire, August 2016
Caldas de Reis, Vilagarcía de Arousa
Out · last measured on 11 Aug 2016
The fire started on 8 August 2016 in Caldas de Reis, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 231 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 25th largest in Pontevedra since 2016 (of 33 with a page). Number 43 in Spain in 2016, of 69.
matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Burned area
with caveats
231ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
This page231EGIF (MITECO)296
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus)
Date
perimeter revised on 26 January 2022
+− cross-check
EGIF (MITECO): 296 ha (matched records: 1). Difference between the page and the official record: −21.9%. 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
4days
8 Aug 2016 to 11 Aug 2016: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
8 Aug 2016 – 11 Aug 2016
+− 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
8 Aug 2016
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
8 Aug 2016
+− 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
35.5FWI · high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 3.
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
30.3°C · 40% RH
High of 30.3 °C and minimum humidity of 40% on 8 August 2016; gusts of 68 km/h on 9 August 2016.
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
· reconstructedweather
Weather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official EGIF (MITECO) record
Nearby records with very different figures: 296 ha (records: 1).
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
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
231ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
4days
8 Aug 2016 – 11 Aug 2016
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
8 Aug
2016
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
30°high
68km/h · peak gust
29%lowest humidity
It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.8 mm on 17 Aug.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
Caldas de Reis9,615 inhabitants · 5.9 km from the centrewhere it started
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
Scrub and transitional woodland42 %
Coniferous forest35 %
Broadleaved forest19 %
Mixed forest3.0 %
Agricultural areas1.3 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Official record
According to EGIF (MITECO), this fire started on 8 August 2016 and burned 296 ha (the satellite measured 231 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Caldas de Reis8 August 2016 · 15:51296 ha· extinguished on 13 August 2016· cause: arson
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)
It stayed below its twins: 231 ha against a median of 366 ha. It lasted 4 days, against 2 days.
In 14 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 6.6 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
2.8 mmfirst rain
17 Aug6 days after it ended
68km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 11 Aug, and on 17 Aug 2.8 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 16 of 30, with a median of 6.6 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 · 1 Aug 2016
After · 18 Aug 2016
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 12 August 2016 the air beside the fire reached 64 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 25: 1.7 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak64µg/m³
Days over the guideline1day
PM1078µg/m³
WHO 15
6 Aug8 Aug10 Aug12 Aug
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)
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 8 August 2016 to 11 August 2016 (4 days). The perimeter dates it from 8 August 2016 to 9 August 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 231 hectares (2.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Caldas de Reis (147 ha, 2.2 %); Vilagarcía de Arousa (83 ha, 1.9 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire came within 2.1 km of the centre of Vilagarcía de Arousa, 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 30.3 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 68 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very 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.
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 366 ha; 20 % went past 1,000 ha. In 14 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 6.6 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 adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 8 August 2016 to 9 August 2016. No Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with EGIF (MITECO): 296 official ha against 231 ha of perimeter; similar, but with reservations.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
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.