How long did the Elvas fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 28 July 2021 and 28 July 2021: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 28 July 2021 at 14:45 and declared extinguished on 29 July 2021.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 207 hectares (2.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire only entered União das Freguesias de Terrugem e Vila Boim (207 ha, 2.1 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.2 km of União das Freguesias de Terrugem e Vila Boim. 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 34.6 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 29 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, class Very 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.

PT · Portugal · 2021-07-28 → 2021-07-28

Elvas fire, July 2021 União das Freguesias de Terrugem e Vila Boim

Out · last detection 28 Jul 2021, 14:25 UTC

The fire started on 28 July 2021 in União das Freguesias de Terrugem e Vila Boim, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 207 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality. According to ICNF, it was detected on 28 July 2021 at 14:45 and declared extinguished on 29 July 2021.

Number 11 in Portugal in 2021, of 30.

Burnt area: 207ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 1day; 28 Jul 2021 – 28 Jul 2021
Municipalities hit: 1; freguesias
Started on: 28 Jul; 2021
Heat detections: 2; in a single hotspot: 143 MW
Danger at start: 41; Very high · FWI index
Energy released: 215MW; sum of detected power

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 28 Jul28 Jul

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

35°high

29km/h · peak gust

21%lowest humidity

It had gone 37 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

União das Freguesias de Terrugem e Vila Boim 1,224 inhabitants · 1.2 km from the town where it started

207 ha reached on 28 Jul

2.1 %

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

Broadleaved forest75 %
Agricultural areas14 %
Scrub and transitional woodland11 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 28 July 2021 and burned 205 ha (the satellite measured 207 ha).

Elvas Vila Boim 28 July 2021 · 14:45 205 ha · extinguished on 29 July 2021 · 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)
28 Jul	34.6 °C	21 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 41
29 Jul after	33.8 °C	26 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
30 Jul after	32.1 °C	27 %	43 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
31 Jul after	27.3 °C	26 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
1 Aug after	28.4 °C	27 %	46 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 47
2 Aug after	28.9 °C	36 %	26 km/h	0.3 mm	High 35
3 Aug after	32.6 °C	24 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
4 Aug after	32.5 °C	29 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
5 Aug after	34.9 °C	21 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
6 Aug after	30.5 °C	25 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 47
7 Aug after	28.0 °C	30 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 43

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 21 Jul 2021

After · 4 Aug 2021

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 29 July 2021 the air beside the fire reached 11 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak11 µg/m³

Days over the guideline0 days

PM1023 µg/m³

262728293031

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 · 2Every 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 Elvas fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 28 July 2021 and 28 July 2021: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 28 July 2021 at 14:45 and declared extinguished on 29 July 2021.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 207 hectares (2.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire only entered União das Freguesias de Terrugem e Vila Boim (207 ha, 2.1 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.2 km of União das Freguesias de Terrugem e Vila Boim. 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 34.6 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 29 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, class Very 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

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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What really happened?

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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.

Where it burned