Llamas de Cabrera fire, August 2025 Lucillo, Ponferrada, Castrillo de Cabrera
The fire started on 9 August 2025 in Ponferrada, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 14 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 26,241 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 7 municipalities.
It is the 2th largest in León since 2016 (of 86 with a page). Number 4 in Spain in 2025, of 158.
Compare with…
- Burnt area
- 26,241ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 14days
- 9 Aug 2025 – 22 Aug 2025
- Municipalities hit
- 7
- municipalities
- Started on
- 9 Aug
- 2025
- Heat detections
- 1,907
- in a single hotspot: 434 MW
- Danger at start
- 33
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 3.1GW
- detected power per day, on average
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 27 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 31 Aug.
This area had burned before
5% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 84 ha in 2016, 760 ha in 2017, 40 ha in 2021, 201 ha in 2022, 47 ha in 2023, 64 ha in 2024.
- 459 ha La Tebaida fire, April 2017 1,234 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 301 ha Castrillo de Cabrera fire, April 2017 303 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 124 ha Montes de Valdueza fire, July 2022 1,500 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 27 ha Luyego fire, August 2022 3,619 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Lucillo 360 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the centre9,103 ha reached on 10 Aug55 %
-
6,079 ha reached on 11 Aug21 %
-
Castrillo de Cabrera 100 inhabitants · fire reached the centre5,778 ha reached on 11 Aug50 %
-
Benuza 457 inhabitants · 6.0 km from the centre2,490 ha reached on 9 Aug14 %
-
Truchas 371 inhabitants · 6.4 km from the centre1,891 ha reached on 17 Aug6.3 %
-
Santa Colomba de Somoza 472 inhabitants · 8.5 km from the centre836 ha reached on 17 Aug4.7 %
-
84 ha reached on 11 Aug2.5 %
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 land74 %
- Broadleaved forest13 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland9.3 %
- Coniferous forest1.6 %
- Agricultural areas0.8 %
- Mixed forest0.6 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 30 %
- ZEPA Montes Aquilanos ES4130022
- LIC Montes Aquilanos y Sierra de Teleno ES4130117
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.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2025Inside the perimeter there were about 5.3 hectares of built-up land and about 100 residents (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu
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 Truchas · Incendio de Benuza · Incendio de Yeres
- According to the sources, several fires that ended up merging:
- Llamas de Cabrera / Truchas (municipio de Benuza) 8 August 2025 22,300 ha
- Yeres (Puente de Domingo Flórez) 9 August 2025 3,900 ha
- Official area reported: 22,300 ha (the satellite measured 26,241 ha)
- Declared extinguished: 4 October 2025
Sources
- Las Médulas empiezan a recuperarse tras el devastador incendio — Telecinco, 14 October 2025
- León encabeza la superficie quemada en grandes incendios este año con 109.082 has — Diario de León, 6 October 2025
- Extinguido tras dos meses el incendio de Llamas de Cabrera que quemó Las Médulas y arrasó 1.500 kilómetros de perímetro — El Bierzo (elDiario.es), 5 October 2025
- Extinguido tras dos meses el incendio de Llamas de Cabrera que afectó a Las Médulas — Diario de León, 5 October 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Aug | 29.8 °C | 20 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 10 Aug | 30.2 °C | 18 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 11 Aug | 28.4 °C | 20 % | 43 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 35 |
| 12 Aug | 27.7 °C | 21 % | 43 km/h | 1.6 mm | High 23 |
| 13 Aug | 25.4 °C | 28 % | 41 km/h | 0.8 mm | High 22 |
| 14 Aug | 27.9 °C | 22 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 15 Aug | 28.8 °C | 18 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 16 Aug | 29.4 °C | 15 % | 36 km/h | 0.3 mm | Very high 38 |
| 17 Aug | 27.7 °C | 24 % | 44 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 40 |
| 18 Aug | 19.9 °C | 46 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 19 Aug | 18.4 °C | 38 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 20 Aug | 16.5 °C | 43 % | 39 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 25 |
| 21 Aug | 18.6 °C | 40 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 22 Aug | 22.3 °C | 30 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 23 Aug after | 24.2 °C | 25 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 24 Aug after | 25.4 °C | 21 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 25 Aug after | 25.6 °C | 23 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 26 Aug after | 23.1 °C | 29 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 27 Aug after | 15.4 °C | 46 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 28 Aug after | 14.4 °C | 40 % | 45 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 28 |
| 29 Aug after | 13.8 °C | 56 % | 56 km/h | 0.9 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 30 Aug after | 18.5 °C | 42 % | 40 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 31 Aug after | 14.3 °C | 43 % | 52 km/h | 1.2 mm | Moderate 14 |
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 18 August 2025 the air beside the fire reached 410 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 171: 11 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 · 1,907Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 3,619 haLuyego25 August 2022 · 11 days · 15 km away
- 1,708 haBenuzaOctober 2017 · 2 days · 15 km away
- 10,927 haEncinedoAugust 2017 · 6 days · 18 km away
- 4,416 haPuente de Domingo FlórezAugust 2025 · 9 days · 19 km away
- 25,953 haPorto de Sanabria PortoAugust 2025 · 17 days · 30 km away
- 12,735 haCarballeda de ValdeorrasJuly 2022 · 8 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Llamas de Cabrera fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 9 August 2025 to 22 August 2025 (14 days). The perimeter dates it from 9 August 2025 to 21 August 2025.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 26,241 hectares (262.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 7 municipalities: Lucillo (9,103 ha, 55 %); Ponferrada (6,079 ha, 21 %); Castrillo de Cabrera (5,778 ha, 50 %); Benuza (2,490 ha, 14 %); Truchas (1,891 ha, 6.3 %); Santa Colomba de Somoza (836 ha, 4.7 %); Priaranza del Bierzo (84 ha, 2.5 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire reached the centre of Castrillo de Cabrera: 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 30.2 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, 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 · 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.
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 9 August 2025 to 21 August 2025. 1,907 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- We have not matched this page with any official record.
- Checked against news and agencies: 4 confirmed sources.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
- Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.