Chantada fire, September 2016 Chantada
The fire started on 4 September 2016 in Chantada, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 113 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 4 September 2016 at 15:04 and declared extinguished on 11 September 2016.
It is the 31th largest in Lugo since 2016 (of 34 with a page). Number 66 in Spain in 2016, of 69.
- Burnt area
- 113ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 2days
- 4 Sept 2016 – 5 Sept 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 4 Sept
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 5
- in a single hotspot: 142 MW
- Danger at start
- 22
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 182MW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 38.5 mm on 13 Sept.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
113 ha reached on 4 Sept0.6 %
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 land59 %
- Broadleaved forest39 %
- Coniferous forest1.8 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 100 %
- LIC Monte Faro ES1120008
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 EGIF (MITECO), this fire started on 4 September 2016 and burned 106 ha (the satellite measured 113 ha).
- Chantada Requeixo 4 September 2016 · 15:04 106 ha · extinguished on 11 September 2016 · cause: rekindling
MITECO, Estadística General de Incendios Forestales (EGIF). This is the agency’s consolidated statistic: it measures the area in its own way, which is why it can differ from the satellite.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Sept | 25.7 °C | 36 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 5 Sept | 26.1 °C | 32 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 6 Sept after | 31.3 °C | 24 % | 32 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 26 |
| 7 Sept after | 24.1 °C | 44 % | 38 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 24 |
| 8 Sept after | 19.3 °C | 47 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 9 Sept after | 20.8 °C | 43 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 10 Sept after | 19.7 °C | 63 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 11 Sept after | 22.6 °C | 50 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 12 Sept after | 23.5 °C | 45 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 13 Sept after | 14.3 °C | 71 % | 50 km/h | 38.5 mm | Very low 0 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · CopernicusOn 6 September 2016 the air beside the fire reached 65 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 31: 2.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 5Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Chantada fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 4 September 2016 and 5 September 2016: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 4 September 2016 at 15:04 and declared extinguished on 11 September 2016.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 113 hectares (1.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Chantada (113 ha, 0.6 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 10.9 km of Chantada. 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 26.1 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 33 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 22, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Spain (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
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 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.