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PT · Portugal ·

Carrazeda de Ansiães fire, 25 July 2017 Carrazeda de Ansiães, União das Freguesias de Amedo e Zedes

Out · last detection 25 Jul 2017, 02:11 UTC

The fire started on 25 July 2017 in Carrazeda de Ansiães, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 152 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 freguesias. According to ICNF, it was detected on 24 July 2017 at 15:50 and declared extinguished on 25 July 2017.

It is the 9th largest in Carrazeda de Ansiães since 2016 (of 10 with a page). Number 163 in Portugal in 2017, of 211.

The power measured by the satellite is low (1.8 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
152ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
25 Jul 2017 – 25 Jul 2017
Freguesias hit
2
freguesias
Started on
25 Jul
2017
Heat detections
2
in a single hotspot: 2 MW
Danger at start
31
High · FWI index
Average daily power
3MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 25 Jul25 Jul

How it evolved, day by day

25 Jul 2017 · 3 MW · 2

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

The weather it burned in

28°high
31km/h · peak gust
29%lowest humidity

It had gone 18 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 freguesia

  1. Carrazeda de Ansiães 1,707 inhabitants · fire reached the centre where it started
    100 ha reached on 25 Jul
    11 %
  2. União das Freguesias de Amedo e Zedes 401 inhabitants · 1.4 km from the centre
    51 ha reached on 25 Jul
    2.2 %

Burnt area inside each freguesia, 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 woodland38 %
  • Mixed forest17 %
  • Agricultural areas16 %
  • Coniferous forest12 %
  • Other natural land12 %
  • Broadleaved forest2.6 %
  • Artificial surfaces2.6 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 24 July 2017 and burned 157 ha (the satellite measured 152 ha).

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)
25 Jul 27.5 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
26 Jul after 29.6 °C 22 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
27 Jul after 29.7 °C 27 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Jul after 29.1 °C 26 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
29 Jul after 28.9 °C 30 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
30 Jul after 26.0 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
31 Jul after 21.5 °C 41 % 33 km/h 0.2 mm High 25
1 Aug after 24.5 °C 29 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
2 Aug after 28.2 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
3 Aug after 27.9 °C 41 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
4 Aug after 31.1 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 30

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 31.2, a minimum humidity of 29% and 18 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 21.

FWI at the start 31.2
Minimum humidity 29 %
Days without rain 18
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

União das Freguesias de São Miguel de Souto e Mosteirô fire, September 2019
172 ha 2 days FWI 31.9 Min. humidity 29 % 114 km away, in 2019

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.8 mm on 16 Sept.

What happened to them

2 days
median duration
235 ha
median area
14 %
went past 1,000 ha
11.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 9 of 21 had it)

It stayed below its twins: 152 ha against a median of 235 ha. It lasted 1 day, against 2 days.

In 12 of 21, 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 11.2 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

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
31km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 25 Jul, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 9 of 21, with a median of 11.2 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.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 18 Jul 2017
After · 1 Aug 2017

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 27 July 2017 the air beside the fire reached 8 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak8 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1012 µg/m³
23 Jul25 Jul27 Jul
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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Portugal

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Carrazeda de Ansiães fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 25 July 2017 and 25 July 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 24 July 2017 at 15:50 and declared extinguished on 25 July 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 152 hectares (1.5 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which freguesias burned?
The fire entered 2 freguesias: Carrazeda de Ansiães (100 ha, 11 %); União das Freguesias de Amedo e Zedes (51 ha, 2.2 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Carrazeda de Ansiães and reached its centre: the point marking it was inside the burnt area or less than 500 metres from it. That does not mean houses burned.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 27.5 °C, humidity dropped to 29 % and gusts hit 31 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.
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: 21. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 235 ha; 14 % went past 1,000 ha. In 12 of 21, 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 11.2 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 · 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.

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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 2 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • Compared with ICNF: 157 official ha against 152 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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. Freguesia boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM3 (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication). The area per freguesia is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from each country’s official figure.