Castelo de Paiva fire, August 2017
União das Freguesias de Sobrado e Bairros, Real
Out · last detection 4 Aug 2017, 02:24 UTC
The fire started on 3 August 2017 in União das Freguesias de Sobrado e Bairros, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 149 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 freguesias. According to ICNF, it was detected on 3 August 2017 at 16:57 and declared extinguished on 4 August 2017.
Number 167 in Portugal in 2017, of 211.
The power measured by the satellite is low (0.7 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
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
29.5°C · 54% RH
High of 29.5 °C and minimum humidity of 54% on 4 August 2017; gusts of 38 km/h on 3 August 2017.
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
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official ICNF record
Matches: 153 ha in the official record (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
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.
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)
3 Aug
27.4 °C
54 %
38 km/h
0.0 mm
High 23
4 Aug
29.5 °C
54 %
37 km/h
0.0 mm
High 25
5 Aug after
28.0 °C
50 %
39 km/h
0.0 mm
High 25
6 Aug after
30.6 °C
36 %
37 km/h
0.0 mm
High 26
7 Aug after
22.5 °C
59 %
45 km/h
0.0 mm
High 25
8 Aug after
23.9 °C
41 %
50 km/h
0.0 mm
High 27
9 Aug after
24.3 °C
30 %
46 km/h
0.0 mm
High 32
10 Aug after
27.3 °C
27 %
44 km/h
0.0 mm
High 35
11 Aug after
30.2 °C
26 %
35 km/h
0.0 mm
High 33
12 Aug after
32.1 °C
25 %
33 km/h
0.0 mm
High 34
13 Aug after
32.0 °C
28 %
32 km/h
0.0 mm
High 32
14 Aug after
26.6 °C
49 %
35 km/h
0.0 mm
High 32
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 23.3, a minimum humidity of 54% and 14 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 36.
FWI at the start23.3
Minimum humidity54 %
Days without rain14
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Castelo de Paiva fire, August 2017
149 ha2 daysFWI 23.3Min. humidity 54 %
Penafiel fire, July 2026
115 ha2 daysFWI 24.0Min. humidity 55 %17 km away, in 2026
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.4 mm on 3 Aug.
It stayed below its twins: 149 ha against a median of 248 ha. It lasted 2 days, against 2 days.
In 6 of 36, 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 3.3 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
38km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 4 Aug, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 30 of 36, with a median of 3.3 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 · 27 Jul 2017
After · 11 Aug 2017
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 7 August 2017 the air beside the fire reached 11 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak11µg/m³
Days over the guideline0days
PM1021µg/m³
1 Aug3 Aug5 Aug7 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)
Detections table· 2Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.›
⬇ Download CSVTimes in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Copernicus dates it between 3 August 2017 and 4 August 2017: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 3 August 2017 at 16:57 and declared extinguished on 4 August 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 149 hectares (1.5 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which freguesias burned?
The fire entered 2 freguesias: União das Freguesias de Sobrado e Bairros (117 ha, 8.3 %); Real (32 ha, 1.0 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in União das Freguesias de Sobrado e Bairros and came within 1.5 km of its centre. 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 29.5 °C, humidity dropped to 54 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, 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: 36. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 248 ha; 11 % went past 1,000 ha. In 6 of 36, 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 3.3 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 from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 2 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with ICNF: 153 official ha against 149 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
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. 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.