How long did the Cascais fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 26 July 2023 and 26 July 2023: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 25 July 2023 at 16:58 and declared extinguished on 26 July 2023.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 232 hectares (2.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Alcabideche (224 ha, 5.6 %); União das freguesias de Cascais e Estoril (8 ha, 0.3 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.8 km of Alcabideche. 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 25.3 °C, humidity dropped to 53 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 24, 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.

PT · Portugal · 2023-07-26 → 2023-07-26

Cascais fire, July 2023 Alcabideche, União das freguesias de Cascais e Estoril

Out · last measured on 26 Jul 2023

The fire started on 26 July 2023 in Alcabideche, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 232 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 25 July 2023 at 16:58 and declared extinguished on 26 July 2023.

Number 17 in Portugal in 2023, of 38.

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: 232ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 1day; 26 Jul 2023 – 26 Jul 2023
Municipalities hit: 2; freguesias
Started on: 26 Jul; 2023
Danger at start: 24; High · FWI index
Natura 2000: 68%; of the perimeter is protected land

The weather it burned in

25°high

44km/h · peak gust

53%lowest humidity

It had gone 34 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

Alcabideche 64,201 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the town where it started

224 ha

5.6 %
União das freguesias de Cascais e Estoril

8 ha

0.3 %

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

Other natural land50 %
Agricultural areas30 %
Scrub and transitional woodland19 %
Artificial surfaces1.3 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 68 %

LIC Sintra / Cascais PTCON0008

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.

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 25 July 2023 and burned 194 ha (the satellite measured 232 ha).

Cascais Alcabideche 25 July 2023 · 16:58 194 ha · extinguished on 26 July 2023 · cause: negligence

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)
26 Jul	25.3 °C	53 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
27 Jul after	21.9 °C	66 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
28 Jul after	24.0 °C	63 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
29 Jul after	24.2 °C	72 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
30 Jul after	24.1 °C	53 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	High 23
31 Jul after	23.6 °C	59 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
1 Aug after	24.2 °C	70 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
2 Aug after	24.3 °C	70 %	42 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 20
3 Aug after	22.1 °C	52 %	64 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
4 Aug after	24.3 °C	44 %	59 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
5 Aug after	29.1 °C	32 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 19 Jul 2023

After · 2 Aug 2023

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 26 July 2023 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

PM1025 µg/m³

Optical depth0.18

242526272829

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

All fires in Portugal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Cascais fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 26 July 2023 and 26 July 2023: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 25 July 2023 at 16:58 and declared extinguished on 26 July 2023.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 232 hectares (2.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Alcabideche (224 ha, 5.6 %); União das freguesias de Cascais e Estoril (8 ha, 0.3 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.8 km of Alcabideche. 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 25.3 °C, humidity dropped to 53 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 24, 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.

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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What really happened?

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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.

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