Chaves fire, August 2020 União das freguesias das Eiras, São Julião de Montenegro e Cela, Vilar de Nantes
The fire started on 7 August 2020 in União das freguesias das Eiras, São Julião de Montenegro e Cela, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 155 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 7 August 2020 at 14:41 and declared extinguished on 8 August 2020.
It is the 12th largest in Chaves since 2016 (of 13 with a page). Number 53 in Portugal in 2020, of 67.
The power measured by the satellite is low (8.0 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
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- Burnt area
- 155ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 7 Aug 2020 – 7 Aug 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- freguesias
- Started on
- 7 Aug
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 2
- in a single hotspot: 8 MW
- Danger at start
- 35
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 12MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
7 Aug 2020 · 12 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
It had gone 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 8 Aug.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
União das freguesias das Eiras, São Julião de Montenegro e Cela where it started151 ha reached on 7 Aug6.7 %
-
Vilar de Nantes 2,416 inhabitants · 2.3 km from the centre4 ha0.5 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, 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
- Agricultural areas41 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland30 %
- Mixed forest18 %
- Broadleaved forest11 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Official record
According to ICNF, this fire started on 7 August 2020 and burned 148 ha (the satellite measured 155 ha).
- Chaves Cela 7 August 2020 · 14:41 148 ha · extinguished on 8 August 2020 · cause: arson
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Aug | 32.8 °C | 32 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 8 Aug after | 32.4 °C | 29 % | 37 km/h | 1.0 mm | High 30 |
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 10 August 2020 the air beside the fire reached 16 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO 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 · 2Every 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 Chaves fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 7 August 2020 and 7 August 2020: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 7 August 2020 at 14:41 and declared extinguished on 8 August 2020.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 155 hectares (1.6 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: União das freguesias das Eiras, São Julião de Montenegro e Cela (151 ha, 6.7 %); Vilar de Nantes (4 ha, 0.5 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire came within 2.3 km of the centre of Vilar de Nantes, the closest of the areas it touched. 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 32.8 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, 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 · Emergency number and official warnings ›
- ICNF · Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas ↗
- ANEPC · Proteção Civil ↗
- Fogos.pt (ocorrências em tempo real) ↗
Satellite cross-check
History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
No changes 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.
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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: 148 official ha against 155 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
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.