Larouco fire, August 2025 Quiroga, Vilamartín de Valdeorras, Oencia
The fire started on 14 August 2025 in Vilamartín de Valdeorras, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 15 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 37,831 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 13 municipalities.
It is the largest fire in Ourense since 2016 (of 118 with a page). Number 2 in Spain in 2025, of 158.
- Burnt area
- 37,831ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 15days
- 14 Aug 2025 – 28 Aug 2025
- Municipalities hit
- 13
- municipalities
- Started on
- 14 Aug
- 2025
- Heat detections
- 1,878
- in a single hotspot: 401 MW
- Danger at start
- 41
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 67.4GW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.5 mm on 29 Aug.
This area had burned before
8% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 74 ha in 2016, 136 ha in 2017, 169 ha in 2018, 163 ha in 2019, 93 ha in 2020, 217 ha in 2021, 2,463 ha in 2022, 46 ha in 2023, 64 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,148 ha that had burned before.
- 2,280 ha Carballeda de Valdeorras fire, July 2022 12,735 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 193 ha Rubiá fire, August 2021 193 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 169 ha Quiroga fire, September 2018 168 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 116 ha O Barco de Valdeorras fire, March 2019 116 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 49 ha Folgoso do Courel fire, July 2022 13,989 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 48 ha Carballeda de Valdeorras fire, July 2017 169 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 47 ha Quiroga fire, July 2019 116 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 43 ha Carballeda de Valdeorras fire, March 2017 172 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Quiroga 3,040 inhabitants · 5.6 km from the town9,436 ha reached on 15 Aug30 %
-
7,586 ha reached on 16 Aug86 %
-
Oencia 267 inhabitants · 0.5 km from the town5,056 ha reached on 17 Aug52 %
-
O Barco de Valdeorras 13,368 inhabitants · 0.6 km from the town4,587 ha reached on 17 Aug54 %
-
Rubiá 1,391 inhabitants · 0.3 km from the town3,282 ha reached on 17 Aug33 %
-
A Rúa 4,214 inhabitants · 0.7 km from the town2,865 ha reached on 15 Aug80 %
-
Petín 856 inhabitants · 0.3 km from the town2,295 ha reached on 14 Aug76 %
-
O Bolo 789 inhabitants · 0.4 km from the town1,398 ha reached on 15 Aug15 %
-
Larouco 484 inhabitants · 0.4 km from the town1,059 ha reached on 14 Aug45 %
-
Carballeda de Valdeorras 1,311 inhabitants · 4.8 km from the town205 ha reached on 17 Aug0.9 %
-
Folgoso do Courel 921 inhabitants · 8.1 km from the town44 ha reached on 18 Aug0.2 %
-
Sobrado 275 inhabitants · 4.5 km from the town33 ha reached on 18 Aug0.8 %
-
A Veiga 873 inhabitants · 8.9 km from the town10 ha reached on 17 Aug0.0 %
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 land59 %
- Broadleaved forest12 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland11 %
- Coniferous forest9.1 %
- Agricultural areas5.5 %
- Mixed forest2.5 %
- Artificial surfaces0.5 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 16 %
- LIC Ancares - Courel ES1120001
- LIC Macizo Central ES1130002
- LIC Riberas del Río Sil y afluentes ES4130076
- ZEPA + LIC Serra da Enciña da Lastra ES1130009
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.
Checked against the press
Checked on 29 September 2026We checked this page against 4 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:
- Also known as
- Incendio de Larouco · Incendio de Valdeorras · Incendio de Larouco-Quiroga-Oencia
- Official area reported: 37,765 ha (the satellite measured 37,831 ha)
Sources
- Greenpeace exige que no se olviden las zonas quemadas en 2025 (Incendios: qué pasó en 2025 y retos para 2026) — Greenpeace España, 22 June 2026
- El verano en el que Valdeorras ardió — Somos Comarca, 26 December 2025
- El incendio de Larouco, el mayor de la historia de Galicia, quedó extinguido este domingo tras calcinar más de 31.700 hectáreas — RibeiraSacraXa, 1 September 2025
- El fuego deja en Valdeorras una cicatriz imborrable — La Región, 29 August 2025
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Aug | 34.0 °C | 19 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 15 Aug | 34.9 °C | 14 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 16 Aug | 35.1 °C | 15 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 17 Aug | 32.5 °C | 18 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 18 Aug | 26.8 °C | 33 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 19 Aug | 24.4 °C | 30 % | 45 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 35 |
| 20 Aug | 22.4 °C | 39 % | 31 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 24 |
| 21 Aug | 26.1 °C | 29 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 22 Aug | 28.8 °C | 31 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 23 Aug | 30.4 °C | 21 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 24 Aug | 30.5 °C | 24 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 25 Aug | 31.1 °C | 23 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 26 Aug | 26.9 °C | 28 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 27 Aug | 21.6 °C | 37 % | 54 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 34 |
| 28 Aug | 20.4 °C | 34 % | 53 km/h | 2.4 mm | Low 11 |
| 29 Aug after | 19.6 °C | 52 % | 55 km/h | 3.5 mm | Low 6 |
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 21 August 2025 the air beside the fire reached 513 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 186: 12 times the WHO daily 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 · 1,878Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 12,735 haCarballeda de ValdeorrasJuly 2022 · 8 days · 12 km away
- 13,989 haFolgoso do CourelJuly 2022 · 10 days · 22 km away
- 4,416 haPuente de Domingo FlórezAugust 2025 · 4 days · 28 km away
- 30,754 haChandrexa de QueixaAugust 2025 · 14 days · 33 km away
- 25,953 haPorto de Sanabria PortoAugust 2025 · 17 days · 34 km away
- 7,090 haVilariño de ConsoJuly 2022 · 6 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Larouco fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 14 August 2025 and 28 August 2025: 15 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 37,831 hectares (378.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 13 municipalities: Quiroga (9,436 ha, 30 %); Vilamartín de Valdeorras (7,586 ha, 86 %); Oencia (5,056 ha, 52 %); O Barco de Valdeorras (4,587 ha, 54 %); Rubiá (3,282 ha, 33 %); A Rúa (2,865 ha, 80 %); Petín (2,295 ha, 76 %); O Bolo (1,398 ha, 15 %); Larouco (1,059 ha, 45 %); Carballeda de Valdeorras (205 ha, 0.9 %); Folgoso do Courel (44 ha, 0.2 %); Sobrado (33 ha, 0.8 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.3 km of Rubiá. 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 35.1 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 56 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, class Very high.
- 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.