How long did the Guarda fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 14 October 2017 and 16 October 2017: 3 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 15 October 2017 at 15:57 and declared extinguished on 17 October 2017.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 4,268 hectares (42.7 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 10 municipalities: Jarmelo São Pedro (1,613 ha, 52 %); Lamegal (951 ha, 43 %); União de freguesias de Pousade e Albardo (410 ha, 24 %); Manigoto (337 ha, 21 %); Pínzio (268 ha, 9.8 %); Rochoso e Monte Margarida (238 ha, 10 %); Lameiras (185 ha, 10 %); Castanheira (138 ha, 5.6 %); Jarmelo São Miguel (91 ha, 5.3 %); Sul de Pinhel (43 ha, 1.0 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Jarmelo São Pedro. 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 28.0 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 63 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, 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 · 2017-10-14 → 2017-10-16

Guarda fire, 14 October 2017 Jarmelo São Pedro, Lamegal, União de freguesias de Pousade e Albardo

Out · last detection 16 Oct 2017, 02:56 UTC

The fire started on 14 October 2017 in Pínzio, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 4,268 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 10 municipalities. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 15 October 2017 at 15:57 and declared extinguished on 17 October 2017.

It is the 2th largest in Pinhel since 2016 (of 10 with a page). Number 19 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

Burnt area: 4,268ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 3days; 14 Oct 2017 – 16 Oct 2017
Municipalities hit: 10; freguesias
Started on: 14 Oct; 2017
Heat detections: 101; in a single hotspot: 34 MW
Danger at start: 42; Very high · FWI index
Energy released: 675MW; sum of detected power

Play back 16 Oct 2017

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Oct16 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

1416

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

The weather it burned in

28°high

63km/h · peak gust

23%lowest humidity

It had gone 44 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.9 mm on 17 Oct.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

Jarmelo São Pedro 276 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town

1,613 ha reached on 16 Oct

52 %
Lamegal 209 inhabitants · 0.3 km from the town

951 ha

43 %
União de freguesias de Pousade e Albardo

410 ha reached on 16 Oct

24 %
Manigoto 150 inhabitants · 0.6 km from the town

337 ha

21 %
Pínzio 365 inhabitants · 1.6 km from the town

268 ha reached on 16 Oct

9.8 %
Rochoso e Monte Margarida 214 inhabitants · 0.4 km from the town

238 ha reached on 16 Oct

10 %
Lameiras 200 inhabitants · 0.9 km from the town where it started

185 ha reached on 14 Oct

10 %
Castanheira 2.3 km from the town

138 ha reached on 16 Oct

5.6 %
Jarmelo São Miguel 276 inhabitants · 1.7 km from the town

91 ha

5.3 %
Sul de Pinhel 360 inhabitants · 3.4 km from the town

43 ha

1.0 %

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

Agricultural areas35 %
Scrub and transitional woodland33 %
Other natural land31 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 4,015 ha (the satellite measured 4,268 ha).

Guarda Rochoso 15 October 2017 · 15:57 3,998 ha · extinguished on 17 October 2017 · cause: arson
Pinhel Manigoto 14 October 2017 · 00:12 16 ha · extinguished on 14 October 2017 · 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)
14 Oct	26.0 °C	25 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 42
15 Oct	28.0 °C	23 %	63 km/h	0.1 mm	Extreme 57
16 Oct	22.0 °C	33 %	51 km/h	0.2 mm	Very high 41
17 Oct after	17.8 °C	44 %	53 km/h	6.9 mm	Low 6

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 7 Oct 2017

After · 23 Oct 2017

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 October 2017 the air beside the fire reached 58 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 38: 2.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak58 µg/m³

Days over the guideline3 days

PM1073 µg/m³

WHO 15

1213141516171819

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 · 101Every 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 Guarda fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 14 October 2017 and 16 October 2017: 3 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 15 October 2017 at 15:57 and declared extinguished on 17 October 2017.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 4,268 hectares (42.7 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 10 municipalities: Jarmelo São Pedro (1,613 ha, 52 %); Lamegal (951 ha, 43 %); União de freguesias de Pousade e Albardo (410 ha, 24 %); Manigoto (337 ha, 21 %); Pínzio (268 ha, 9.8 %); Rochoso e Monte Margarida (238 ha, 10 %); Lameiras (185 ha, 10 %); Castanheira (138 ha, 5.6 %); Jarmelo São Miguel (91 ha, 5.3 %); Sul de Pinhel (43 ha, 1.0 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Jarmelo São Pedro. 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 28.0 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 63 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, 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