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Freixiosa fire, October 2017 Freixiosa, Tavares (Chãs, Várzea e Travanca), Mangualde, Mesquitela e Cunha Alta

Out · last measured on 17 Oct 2017

The fire started on 17 October 2017 in Freixiosa, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 208 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 5 municipalities.

It is the 5th largest in Mangualde since 2016 (of 12 with a page). Number 144 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
208ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
17 Oct 2017 – 17 Oct 2017
Municipalities hit
5
freguesias
Started on
17 Oct
2017
Danger at start
1
Very low · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

17°high
50km/h · peak gust
47%lowest humidity

It had gone 48 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 15.3 mm on 18 Oct.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Freixiosa 234 inhabitants · 0.7 km from the town where it started
    106 ha
    14 %
  2. Tavares (Chãs, Várzea e Travanca) 1,280 inhabitants · 2.7 km from the town
    98 ha
    2.8 %
  3. Mangualde, Mesquitela e Cunha Alta 9,858 inhabitants · 6.3 km from the town
    2 ha
    0.0 %
  4. Abrunhosa-a-Velha 440 inhabitants · 2.0 km from the town
    1 ha
    0.1 %
  5. Santiago de Cassurrães e Póvoa de Cervães 1,218 inhabitants · 3.3 km from the town
    0 ha
    0.0 %

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 land85 %
  • Scrub and transitional woodland14 %
  • Agricultural areas1.0 %

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

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)
17 Oct 17.2 °C 47 % 50 km/h 16.9 mm Very low 1
18 Oct after 13.7 °C 68 % 41 km/h 15.3 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 10 Oct 2017
After · 24 Oct 2017

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 17 October 2017 the air beside the fire reached 463 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 228: 15 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak463 µg/m³
Days over the guideline3 days
PM10475 µg/m³
151617181920
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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Portugal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Freixiosa fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 17 October 2017 and 17 October 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 208 hectares (2.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 5 municipalities: Freixiosa (106 ha, 14 %); Tavares (Chãs, Várzea e Travanca) (98 ha, 2.8 %); Mangualde, Mesquitela e Cunha Alta (2 ha, 0.0 %); Abrunhosa-a-Velha (1 ha, 0.1 %); Santiago de Cassurrães e Póvoa de Cervães (0 ha, 0.0 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.7 km of Freixiosa. 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 17.2 °C, humidity dropped to 47 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 1, class Very low.
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

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
What do you think is wrong?

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.