How long did the Cantanhede fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 10 August 2017 and 14 August 2017: 5 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 10 August 2017 at 12:33 and declared extinguished on 14 August 2017.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 1,388 hectares (13.9 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 5 municipalities: Barcouço (854 ha, 40 %); Antuzede e Vil de Matos (235 ha, 13 %); Ançã (157 ha, 8.7 %); Murtede (122 ha, 6.1 %); Trouxemil e Torre de Vilela (22 ha, 2.1 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Barcouço. 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 33.7 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, class Very 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 · 2017-08-10 → 2017-08-14

Cantanhede fire, 10 August 2017 Barcouço, Antuzede e Vil de Matos, Ançã

Out · last detection 14 Aug 2017, 02:37 UTC

The fire started on 10 August 2017 in Barcouço, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 1,388 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 5 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 10 August 2017 at 12:33 and declared extinguished on 14 August 2017.

Number 44 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

Burnt area: 1,388ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 5days; 10 Aug 2017 – 14 Aug 2017
Municipalities hit: 5; freguesias
Started on: 10 Aug; 2017
Heat detections: 46; in a single hotspot: 125 MW
Danger at start: 44; Very high · FWI index
Energy released: 665MW; sum of detected power

Play back 14 Aug 2017

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 Aug14 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

1011121314

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

34°high

48km/h · peak gust

17%lowest humidity

It had gone 21 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

Barcouço 2,090 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town

854 ha reached on 11 Aug

40 %
Antuzede e Vil de Matos 2,842 inhabitants · 2.1 km from the town

235 ha reached on 11 Aug

13 %
Ançã 2,453 inhabitants · 0.6 km from the town

157 ha reached on 12 Aug

8.7 %
Murtede 1,288 inhabitants · 3.4 km from the town where it started

122 ha reached on 10 Aug

6.1 %
Trouxemil e Torre de Vilela 3,664 inhabitants · 0.3 km from the town

22 ha

2.1 %

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

Agricultural areas42 %
Scrub and transitional woodland29 %
Coniferous forest21 %
Mixed forest5.5 %
Broadleaved forest2.0 %
Artificial surfaces0.9 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 10 August 2017 and burned 1,202 ha (the satellite measured 1,388 ha).

Cantanhede Murtede 10 August 2017 · 12:33 1,202 ha · extinguished on 14 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	Danger (FWI)
10 Aug	28.7 °C	22 %	48 km/h	Very high 44
11 Aug	31.8 °C	19 %	44 km/h	Very high 48
12 Aug	33.7 °C	17 %	41 km/h	Very high 49
13 Aug	33.3 °C	29 %	34 km/h	Very high 41
14 Aug	26.3 °C	53 %	39 km/h	High 28
15 Aug after	25.4 °C	47 %	46 km/h	High 32
16 Aug after	27.0 °C	39 %	44 km/h	High 32
17 Aug after	30.4 °C	40 %	46 km/h	High 34
18 Aug after	27.4 °C	50 %	48 km/h	High 33
19 Aug after	30.7 °C	44 %	42 km/h	High 32
20 Aug after	37.9 °C	22 %	48 km/h	Extreme 57
21 Aug after	34.0 °C	28 %	38 km/h	Very high 45
22 Aug after	30.0 °C	42 %	44 km/h	Very high 39
23 Aug after	27.7 °C	49 %	40 km/h	High 31
24 Aug after	25.5 °C	50 %	36 km/h	High 27

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 3 Aug 2017

After · 21 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 13 August 2017 the air beside the fire reached 46 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 32: 2.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak46 µg/m³

Days over the guideline3 days

PM1058 µg/m³

WHO 15

891011121314151617

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 · 46Every 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 Cantanhede fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 10 August 2017 and 14 August 2017: 5 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 10 August 2017 at 12:33 and declared extinguished on 14 August 2017.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 1,388 hectares (13.9 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 5 municipalities: Barcouço (854 ha, 40 %); Antuzede e Vil de Matos (235 ha, 13 %); Ançã (157 ha, 8.7 %); Murtede (122 ha, 6.1 %); Trouxemil e Torre de Vilela (22 ha, 2.1 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Barcouço. 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 33.7 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, class Very 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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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