How long did the Mangualde fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 21 August 2017 and 21 August 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 21 August 2017 at 00:26 and declared extinguished on 21 August 2017.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 101 hectares (1.0 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Espinho (88 ha, 6.0 %); Senhorim (13 ha, 0.4 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.7 km of Espinho. 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 34.7 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, 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 · 2017-08-21 → 2017-08-21

Mangualde fire, August 2017 Espinho, Senhorim

Out · last detection 21 Aug 2017, 13:28 UTC

The fire started on 21 August 2017 in Espinho, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 101 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 21 August 2017 at 00:26 and declared extinguished on 21 August 2017.

It is the 12th largest in Mangualde since 2016 (of 12 with a page). Number 209 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

Burnt area: 101ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 1day; 21 Aug 2017 – 21 Aug 2017
Municipalities hit: 2; freguesias
Started on: 21 Aug; 2017
Heat detections: 7; in a single hotspot: 48 MW
Danger at start: 45; Very high · FWI index
Energy released: 197MW; sum of detected power

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Aug21 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

35°high

41km/h · peak gust

23%lowest humidity

It had gone 20 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 26 Aug.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

Espinho 0.7 km from the town where it started

88 ha reached on 21 Aug

6.0 %
Senhorim 1,019 inhabitants · 2.3 km from the town

13 ha

0.4 %

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 woodland58 %
Agricultural areas42 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 109 ha (the satellite measured 101 ha).

Mangualde Espinho 21 August 2017 · 00:26 72 ha · extinguished on 21 August 2017 · cause: negligence
Mangualde Espinho 21 August 2017 · 16:28 37 ha · extinguished on 22 August 2017 · cause: rekindling

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)
21 Aug	34.7 °C	23 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 45
22 Aug after	32.1 °C	33 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
23 Aug after	32.2 °C	31 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
24 Aug after	27.5 °C	34 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
25 Aug after	29.5 °C	22 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
26 Aug after	30.1 °C	29 %	48 km/h	1.1 mm	High 32

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 14 Aug 2017

After · 28 Aug 2017

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 August 2017 the air beside the fire reached 23 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak23 µg/m³

Days over the guideline0 days

PM1031 µg/m³

WHO 15

192021222324

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 · 7Every 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 21 August 2017 and 21 August 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 21 August 2017 at 00:26 and declared extinguished on 21 August 2017.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 101 hectares (1.0 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Espinho (88 ha, 6.0 %); Senhorim (13 ha, 0.4 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.7 km of Espinho. 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 34.7 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, 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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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.

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