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la Vall d'Ebo fire, August 2022 la Vall d'Ebo, la Vall d'Alcalà, Vall de Gallinera

Out · last detection 19 Aug 2022, 02:06 UTC

The fire started on 13 August 2022 in la Vall d'Ebo, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 12,111 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 14 municipalities. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 13 August 2022 at 21:38 and declared extinguished on 27 August 2022.

It is the largest fire in Alacant / Alicante since 2016 (of 10 with a page). Number 8 in Spain in 2022, of 196.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Campillo de Altobuey · 2017Hellín · 2024Montitxelvo · 2023Tàrbena · 2024

Burnt area
12,111ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
7days
13 Aug 2022 – 19 Aug 2022
Municipalities hit
14
municipalities
Started on
13 Aug
2022
Heat detections
586
in a single hotspot: 208 MW
Danger at start
60
Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
1.4GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 Aug19 Aug
19 Aug 2022

How it evolved, day by day

14 Aug 2022 · 2,419 MW · 184 15 Aug 2022 · 3,689 MW · 195 16 Aug 2022 · 1,504 MW · 140 17 Aug 2022 · 767 MW · 65 18 Aug 2022 · 0 MW · 1 19 Aug 2022 · 0 MW · 1
15 Aug 18 Aug

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

The weather it burned in

39°high
56km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone 16 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 26 Aug.

This area had burned before

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

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 7.6% of the area of London (121 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. la Vall d'Ebo 231 inhabitants · fire reached the centre where it started
    2,987 ha reached on 14 Aug
    92 %
  2. la Vall d'Alcalà 159 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    2,107 ha reached on 14 Aug
    93 %
  3. Vall de Gallinera 583 inhabitants · 0.5 km from the centre
    1,439 ha reached on 14 Aug
    27 %
  4. Castell de Castells 443 inhabitants · 1.7 km from the centre
    1,327 ha reached on 14 Aug
    29 %
  5. Tollos 32 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    1,221 ha reached on 15 Aug
    77 %
  6. Pego 10,791 inhabitants · 1.2 km from the centre
    851 ha reached on 15 Aug
    16 %
  7. la Vall de Laguar 905 inhabitants · 1.6 km from the centre
    530 ha reached on 14 Aug
    23 %
  8. Benimassot 85 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    498 ha reached on 16 Aug
    52 %
  9. Planes 697 inhabitants · 3.4 km from the centre
    476 ha reached on 16 Aug
    12 %
  10. l'Atzúbia 589 inhabitants · 0.5 km from the centre
    211 ha reached on 15 Aug
    14 %
  11. Orba 2,399 inhabitants · 3.3 km from the centre
    196 ha reached on 17 Aug
    11 %
  12. Famorca 44 inhabitants · 0.8 km from the centre
    188 ha reached on 16 Aug
    19 %
  13. Tormos 323 inhabitants · 1.3 km from the centre
    50 ha reached on 17 Aug
    9.5 %
  14. Balones 132 inhabitants · 2.8 km from the centre
    47 ha reached on 17 Aug
    4.2 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

What burned

  • Other natural land53 %
  • Sclerophyllous scrub18 %
  • Coniferous forest17 %
  • Agricultural areas7.9 %
  • Scrub and transitional woodland3.7 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 0 %

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 13 August 2022 and burned 10,609 ha (the satellite measured 12,111 ha).

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 2026

We checked this page against 4 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:

Also known as
incendi de la Vall d'Ebo · incendio de Vall d'Ebo · Val d'Ebo fire
Official area reported: 12,150 ha (the satellite measured 12,111 ha)
Declared extinguished: 28 August 2022

Sources

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)

Started with Strong wind: 26 % of the area in Spain Very dry air: 25 % of the area in Spain

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
13 Aug 38.9 °C 13 % 56 km/h 0.3 mm Extreme 60
14 Aug 34.5 °C 23 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
15 Aug 31.0 °C 17 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
16 Aug 31.9 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
17 Aug 28.9 °C 27 % 37 km/h 2.5 mm Moderate 17
18 Aug 28.1 °C 22 % 45 km/h 1.9 mm Moderate 11
19 Aug 28.1 °C 33 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
20 Aug after 29.5 °C 42 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
21 Aug after 34.1 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 45
22 Aug after 28.9 °C 39 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
23 Aug after 30.6 °C 42 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
24 Aug after 32.1 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
25 Aug after 31.7 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
26 Aug after 25.7 °C 59 % 36 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 17

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 60.2, a minimum humidity of 13% and 16 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 16.

FWI at the start 60.2
Minimum humidity 13 %
Days without rain 16
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Campillo de Altobuey fire, July 2017
1,057 ha 2 days FWI 55.5 Min. humidity 13 % 162 km away, in 2017

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 4.3 mm on 2 Aug.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

2 days
median duration
910 ha
median area
44 %
went past 1,000 ha
4.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 8 of 16 had it)

It was 13.3 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 7 days, against 2 days.

None of its 16 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 8 of 16, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 4.2 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

1.4 mmfirst rain
26 Aug7 days after it ended
56km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 19 Aug, and on 26 Aug 1.4 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 8 of 16, with a median of 4.2 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 6 Aug 2022
After · 26 Aug 2022

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 15 August 2022 the air beside the fire reached 52 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 29: 1.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak52 µg/m³
Days over the guideline3 days
PM1078 µg/m³
Optical depth1.43
11 Aug14 Aug17 Aug20 Aug
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 · 586Every 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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Spain

Frequently asked questions

How long did the la Vall d'Ebo fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 13 August 2022 and 19 August 2022: 7 days between the first and last image with fire. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 13 August 2022 at 21:38 and declared extinguished on 27 August 2022.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 12,111 hectares (121.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 14 municipalities: la Vall d'Ebo (2,987 ha, 92 %); la Vall d'Alcalà (2,107 ha, 93 %); Vall de Gallinera (1,439 ha, 27 %); Castell de Castells (1,327 ha, 29 %); Tollos (1,221 ha, 77 %); Pego (851 ha, 16 %); la Vall de Laguar (530 ha, 23 %); Benimassot (498 ha, 52 %); Planes (476 ha, 12 %); l'Atzúbia (211 ha, 14 %); Orba (196 ha, 11 %); Famorca (188 ha, 19 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in la Vall d'Ebo and reached its centre: the point marking it was inside the burnt area or less than 500 metres from it. That does not mean houses burned.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.9 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 56 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 16. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 910 ha; 44 % went past 1,000 ha. None of its 16 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 8 of 16, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 4.2 mm.

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 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 586 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • Compared with EGIF (MITECO): 10,609 official ha against 12,111 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
  • Checked against news and agencies: 4 confirmed sources.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.