How long did the Loulé fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 23 June 2026 and 23 June 2026: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 23 June 2026 at 10:47 and declared extinguished on 24 June 2026.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 988 hectares (9.9 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire only entered Ameixial (990 ha, 8.0 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.2 km of Ameixial. 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 27.8 °C, humidity dropped to 51 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, class High.

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 · 2026-06-23 → 2026-06-23

Loulé fire, June 2026 Ameixial

Out · last detection 23 Jun 2026, 13:13 UTC

The fire started on 23 June 2026 in Ameixial, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 988 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality. According to ICNF, it was detected on 23 June 2026 at 10:47 and declared extinguished on 24 June 2026.

Number 12 in Portugal in 2026, of 78.

Burnt area: 988ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 1day; 23 Jun 2026 – 23 Jun 2026
Municipalities hit: 1; freguesias
Started on: 23 Jun; 2026
Heat detections: 41; in a single hotspot: 123 MW
Danger at start: 28; High · FWI index
Energy released: 1.8GW; sum of detected power

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 23 Jun23 Jun

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

28°high

40km/h · peak gust

51%lowest humidity

It had gone 42 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.8 mm on 25 Jun.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

Ameixial 381 inhabitants · 0.2 km from the town where it started

990 ha reached on 23 Jun

8.0 %

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

Scrub and transitional woodland46 %
Broadleaved forest34 %
Agricultural areas20 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 0 %

ZEPA + LIC Caldeirão PTCON0057

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 ICNF, this fire started on 23 June 2026 and burned 942 ha (the satellite measured 988 ha).

Loulé Ameixial 23 June 2026 · 10:47 942 ha · extinguished on 24 June 2026 · 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)
23 Jun	27.8 °C	51 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
24 Jun after	25.4 °C	44 %	36 km/h	0.5 mm	High 29
25 Jun after	22.4 °C	67 %	46 km/h	1.8 mm	Low 10

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 16 Jun 2026

After · 30 Jun 2026

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 22 June 2026 the air beside the fire reached 25 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 19: 1.3 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak25 µg/m³

Days over the guideline1 day

PM1055 µg/m³

Optical depth0.43

WHO 15

212223242526

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 · 41Every 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 Loulé fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 23 June 2026 and 23 June 2026: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 23 June 2026 at 10:47 and declared extinguished on 24 June 2026.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 988 hectares (9.9 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire only entered Ameixial (990 ha, 8.0 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.2 km of Ameixial. 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 27.8 °C, humidity dropped to 51 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, class High.
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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What really happened?

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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