Hermisende fire, September 2020 A Mezquita, Hermisende
The fire started on 14 September 2020 in Hermisende, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 624 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 14 September 2020 at 12:24 and declared extinguished on 18 September 2020.
It is the 13th largest in Zamora since 2016 (of 45 with a page). Number 15 in Spain in 2020, of 89.
- Burnt area
- 624ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 2days
- 14 Sept 2020 – 15 Sept 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 14 Sept
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 14
- in a single hotspot: 148 MW
- Danger at start
- 6
- Low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 348MW
- 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 24 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 9.4 mm on 17 Sept.
This area had burned before
13% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 80 ha in 2019.
What happened to each town
-
A Mezquita 996 inhabitants · 3.8 km from the town520 ha reached on 14 Sept5.0 %
-
104 ha reached on 14 Sept1.0 %
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 %
- Agricultural areas12 %
- Coniferous forest3.5 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 87 %
- LIC Pena Maseira ES1130008
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 14 September 2020 and burned 650 ha (the satellite measured 624 ha).
- A Mezquita Cádavos 14 September 2020 · 12:24 650 ha · extinguished on 18 September 2020 · cause: arson
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.
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 Sept | 24.6 °C | 43 % | 61 km/h | 4.8 mm | Low 6 |
| 15 Sept | 23.2 °C | 39 % | 39 km/h | 0.5 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 16 Sept after | 24.3 °C | 34 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 17 Sept after | 23.0 °C | 47 % | 53 km/h | 9.4 mm | Very low 3 |
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.
Detections table · 14Every 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 Hermisende fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 14 September 2020 and 15 September 2020: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 14 September 2020 at 12:24 and declared extinguished on 18 September 2020.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 624 hectares (6.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: A Mezquita (520 ha, 5.0 %); Hermisende (104 ha, 1.0 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 3.8 km of A Mezquita. 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 24.6 °C, humidity dropped to 39 % and gusts hit 61 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 13, class Moderate.
- 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.