How long did the Mangualde fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 8 August 2016 and 9 August 2016: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 8 August 2016 at 12:37 and declared extinguished on 9 August 2016.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 119 hectares (1.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mangualde, Mesquitela e Cunha Alta (118 ha, 2.6 %); Germil (1 ha, 0.2 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.0 km of Germil. 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 36.4 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 48 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 Portugal (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

PT · Portugal · 2016-08-08 → 2016-08-09

Mangualde fire, August 2016 Mangualde, Mesquitela e Cunha Alta, Germil

Out · last detection 9 Aug 2016, 12:57 UTC

The fire started on 8 August 2016 in Mangualde, Mesquitela e Cunha Alta, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 119 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 8 August 2016 at 12:37 and declared extinguished on 9 August 2016.

It is the 9th largest in Mangualde since 2016 (of 12 with a page). Number 161 in Portugal in 2016, of 179.

The power measured by the satellite is low (4.6 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area: 119ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 2days; 8 Aug 2016 – 9 Aug 2016
Municipalities hit: 2; freguesias
Started on: 8 Aug; 2016
Heat detections: 4; in a single hotspot: 5 MW
Danger at start: 48; Very high · FWI index
Energy released: 14MW; sum of detected power

Play back 9 Aug 2016

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Aug9 Aug

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

36°high

48km/h · peak gust

19%lowest humidity

It had gone 31 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

Mangualde, Mesquitela e Cunha Alta 9,858 inhabitants · 2.2 km from the town where it started

118 ha reached on 8 Aug

2.6 %
Germil 436 inhabitants · 1.0 km from the town

1 ha

0.2 %

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

Mixed forest84 %
Agricultural areas12 %
Scrub and transitional woodland4.1 %

Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 8 August 2016 and burned 119 ha (the satellite measured 119 ha).

Mangualde Mangualde 8 August 2016 · 12:37 119 ha · extinguished on 9 August 2016 · cause: unknown

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)
8 Aug	36.4 °C	19 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 48
9 Aug	32.0 °C	29 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
10 Aug after	28.6 °C	28 %	59 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 51
11 Aug after	29.6 °C	29 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
12 Aug after	31.6 °C	26 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 38
13 Aug after	32.5 °C	24 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
14 Aug after	31.8 °C	33 %	26 km/h	0.3 mm	High 34
15 Aug after	29.7 °C	33 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
16 Aug after	27.7 °C	37 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
17 Aug after	25.9 °C	51 %	35 km/h	0.4 mm	High 26
18 Aug after	28.2 °C	36 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
19 Aug after	24.8 °C	63 %	38 km/h	0.5 mm	High 22

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 1 Aug 2016

After · 16 Aug 2016

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 12 August 2016 the air beside the fire reached 132 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 29: 2.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak132 µg/m³

Days over the guideline2 days

PM10147 µg/m³

WHO 15

6789101112

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 · 4Every 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 Mangualde fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 8 August 2016 and 9 August 2016: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 8 August 2016 at 12:37 and declared extinguished on 9 August 2016.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 119 hectares (1.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mangualde, Mesquitela e Cunha Alta (118 ha, 2.6 %); Germil (1 ha, 0.2 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.0 km of Germil. 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 36.4 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 48 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 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