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Castelo Branco fire, 26 July 2016 Cebolais de Cima e Retaxo, Benquerenças

Out · last measured on 27 Jul 2016

The fire started on 26 July 2016 in Cebolais de Cima e Retaxo, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 264 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 26 July 2016 at 16:57 and declared extinguished on 26 July 2016.

Number 90 in Portugal in 2016, of 179.

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
264ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
2days
26 Jul 2016 – 27 Jul 2016
Municipalities hit
2
freguesias
Started on
26 Jul
2016
Danger at start
55
Extreme · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

38°high
40km/h · peak gust
19%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 town

  1. Cebolais de Cima e Retaxo 1,611 inhabitants · 0.2 km from the town where it started
    240 ha
    9.5 %
  2. Benquerenças 637 inhabitants · 4.4 km from the town
    25 ha
    0.4 %

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

  • Scrub and transitional woodland80 %
  • Sclerophyllous scrub18 %
  • Agricultural areas1.9 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 26 July 2016 and burned 250 ha (the satellite measured 264 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)
26 Jul 38.1 °C 19 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
27 Jul 36.5 °C 20 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
28 Jul after 37.9 °C 20 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
29 Jul after 37.4 °C 21 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
30 Jul after 29.5 °C 34 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
31 Jul after 31.5 °C 34 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
1 Aug after 34.5 °C 26 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
2 Aug after 36.9 °C 20 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
3 Aug after 35.6 °C 27 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
4 Aug after 30.5 °C 44 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
5 Aug after 35.4 °C 21 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
6 Aug after 38.0 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 19 Jul 2016
After · 3 Aug 2016

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 30 July 2016 the air beside the fire reached 20 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 17: 1.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak20 µg/m³
Days over the guideline2 days
PM1039 µg/m³
24252627282930
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 Castelo Branco fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 26 July 2016 and 27 July 2016: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 26 July 2016 at 16:57 and declared extinguished on 26 July 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 264 hectares (2.6 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Cebolais de Cima e Retaxo (240 ha, 9.5 %); Benquerenças (25 ha, 0.4 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.2 km of Cebolais de Cima e Retaxo. 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 38.1 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 55, class Extreme.
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

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.

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.