Gátova fire, June 2017 Segorbe, Altura, Gátova
The fire started on 28 June 2017 in Segorbe, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 1,181 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 28 June 2017 at 19:11 and declared extinguished on 18 July 2017.
It is the 5th largest in Castelló / Castellón since 2016 (of 13 with a page). Number 24 in Spain in 2017, of 144.
- Burnt area
- 1,181ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 3days
- 28 Jun 2017 – 30 Jun 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 28 Jun
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 50
- in a single hotspot: 92 MW
- Danger at start
- 56
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 732MW
- 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 22 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
-
892 ha reached on 29 Jun8.4 %
-
Altura 3,849 inhabitants · 3.3 km from the town214 ha reached on 29 Jun1.6 %
-
77 ha reached on 29 Jun2.6 %
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 land78 %
- Agricultural areas16 %
- Coniferous forest4.1 %
- Sclerophyllous scrub2.4 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 58 %
- LIC Serra Calderona ES5232002
- ZEPA Serra Calderona (ZEPA) ES0000469
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 28 June 2017 and burned 1,213 ha (the satellite measured 1,181 ha).
- Gátova Chirivilla 28 June 2017 · 19:11 1,213 ha · extinguished on 18 July 2017 · cause: natural (lightning)
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.
Checked against the press
Checked on 30 September 2026We checked this page against 4 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:
- Also known as
- Incendio de la Sierra Calderona · Incendio de Gátova-Altura-Segorbe · Incendio de Segorbe
- Official area reported: 1,413 ha (the satellite measured 1,181 ha)
Sources
- El MAPA finaliza las obras de restauración de las zonas afectadas por el incendio forestal de Gátova — Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación, 6 August 2018 · official source
- El terrorífico incendio de 2017 — Historia de la Villa de Altura (blog), 29 June 2026
- El incendio de Gátova ha supuesto el 95% de las hectáreas quemadas en 2017 en los montes valencianos — elDiario.es Comunitat Valenciana, 12 July 2017
- El incendio de Sierra Calderona, estabilizado tras arrasar 1.200 hectáreas — Valencia Plaza, 30 June 2017
Official figures are measured differently from satellite ones and sometimes cover only part of the fire.
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 Jun | 28.4 °C | 25 % | 76 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 29 Jun | 26.4 °C | 18 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 30 Jun | 24.9 °C | 20 % | 36 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 40 |
| 1 Jul after | 23.9 °C | 22 % | 55 km/h | 0.5 mm | Very high 47 |
| 2 Jul after | 24.0 °C | 34 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 3 Jul after | 27.1 °C | 32 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 4 Jul after | 27.6 °C | 36 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 5 Jul after | 26.8 °C | 42 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 6 Jul after | 28.1 °C | 44 % | 40 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 29 |
| 7 Jul after | 26.7 °C | 46 % | 70 km/h | 0.8 mm | High 23 |
| 8 Jul after | 29.1 °C | 27 % | 56 km/h | 0.3 mm | Very high 41 |
| 9 Jul after | 29.7 °C | 34 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 10 Jul after | 29.8 °C | 41 % | 41 km/h | 0.7 mm | High 26 |
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 26 June 2017 the air beside the fire reached 12 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 · 50Every 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 Gátova fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 28 June 2017 and 30 June 2017: 3 days between the first and last image with fire. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 28 June 2017 at 19:11 and declared extinguished on 18 July 2017.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 1,181 hectares (11.8 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Segorbe (892 ha, 8.4 %); Altura (214 ha, 1.6 %); Gátova (77 ha, 2.6 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 3.3 km of Altura. 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 28.4 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 76 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 56, class Extreme.
- 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.