How long did the Chaves fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 15 July 2022 and 19 July 2022: 5 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 15 July 2022 at 14:45 and declared extinguished on 22 July 2022.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 3,127 hectares (31.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 5 municipalities: Vilela Seca (1,140 ha, 81 %); Vilarelho Da Raia (713 ha, 39 %); Ervededo (521 ha, 26 %); Bustelo (514 ha, 54 %); Outeiro Seco (240 ha, 16 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.2 km of Vilela Seca. 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 40.8 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 57 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, 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.

PT · Portugal · 2022-07-15 → 2022-07-19

Chaves fire, July 2022 Vilela Seca, Vilarelho Da Raia, Ervededo

Out · last detection 19 Jul 2022, 01:47 UTC

The fire started on 15 July 2022 in Vilela Seca, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 3,127 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 5 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 15 July 2022 at 14:45 and declared extinguished on 22 July 2022.

It is the 2th largest in Chaves since 2016 (of 13 with a page). Number 7 in Portugal in 2022, of 107.

Burnt area: 3,127ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 5days; 15 Jul 2022 – 19 Jul 2022
Municipalities hit: 5; freguesias
Started on: 15 Jul; 2022
Heat detections: 54; in a single hotspot: 198 MW
Danger at start: 56; Extreme · FWI index
Energy released: 1.2GW; sum of detected power

Play back 19 Jul 2022

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Jul19 Jul

How it evolved, day by day

16171819

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

41°high

57km/h · peak gust

11%lowest humidity

It had gone 9 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

Vilela Seca 238 inhabitants · 0.2 km from the town

1,140 ha reached on 16 Jul

81 %
Vilarelho Da Raia

713 ha reached on 18 Jul

39 %
Ervededo 595 inhabitants · 0.5 km from the town

521 ha reached on 17 Jul

26 %
Bustelo 0.3 km from the town where it started

514 ha reached on 16 Jul

54 %
Outeiro Seco 849 inhabitants · 1.5 km from the town

240 ha

16 %

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

Agricultural areas50 %
Scrub and transitional woodland26 %
Other natural land17 %
Mixed forest5.4 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 15 July 2022 and burned 3,368 ha (the satellite measured 3,127 ha).

Chaves Bustelo 15 July 2022 · 14:45 3,368 ha · extinguished on 22 July 2022 · 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)
15 Jul	40.4 °C	11 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 56
16 Jul	37.9 °C	18 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 49
17 Jul	40.8 °C	11 %	57 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 60
18 Jul	33.1 °C	21 %	56 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 53
19 Jul	27.4 °C	35 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
20 Jul after	32.2 °C	15 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
21 Jul after	35.2 °C	20 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 44
22 Jul after	30.3 °C	26 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
23 Jul after	33.8 °C	21 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
24 Jul after	33.3 °C	21 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
25 Jul after	29.2 °C	33 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 40
26 Jul after	28.8 °C	31 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
27 Jul after	28.9 °C	20 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
28 Jul after	28.7 °C	31 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
29 Jul after	30.5 °C	31 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
30 Jul after	35.0 °C	18 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 47
31 Jul after	37.5 °C	16 %	52 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
1 Aug after	38.4 °C	13 %	54 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 59
2 Aug after	38.2 °C	14 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 54
3 Aug after	36.7 °C	12 %	58 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 64
4 Aug after	35.5 °C	19 %	55 km/h	0.2 mm	Extreme 64

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 8 Jul 2022

After · 26 Jul 2022

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 16 July 2022 the air beside the fire reached 36 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 24: 1.6 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak36 µg/m³

Days over the guideline7 days

PM1054 µg/m³

WHO 15

13141516171819202122232425262728

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)

Detections table · 54Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.

⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.

Date and time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Portugal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Chaves fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 15 July 2022 and 19 July 2022: 5 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 15 July 2022 at 14:45 and declared extinguished on 22 July 2022.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 3,127 hectares (31.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 5 municipalities: Vilela Seca (1,140 ha, 81 %); Vilarelho Da Raia (713 ha, 39 %); Ervededo (521 ha, 26 %); Bustelo (514 ha, 54 %); Outeiro Seco (240 ha, 16 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.2 km of Vilela Seca. 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 40.8 °C, humidity dropped to 11 % and gusts hit 57 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, 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

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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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