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Mealhada fire, October 2017 Uni3O Das Freguesias Da Mealhada, Ventosa Do Bair, Tamengos, Aguim e Óis do Bairro

Out · last measured on 16 Oct 2017

The fire started on 16 October 2017 in Uni3O Das Freguesias Da Mealhada, Ventosa Do Bair, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 150 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 15 October 2017 at 16:56 and declared extinguished on 18 October 2017.

Number 163 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
150ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
16 Oct 2017 – 16 Oct 2017
Municipalities hit
2
freguesias
Started on
16 Oct
2017
Danger at start
5
Very low · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

23°high
48km/h · peak gust
47%lowest humidity

It had gone 47 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 21.0 mm on 17 Oct.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Uni3O Das Freguesias Da Mealhada, Ventosa Do Bair 1,002 inhabitants · 1.1 km from the town where it started
    145 ha
    6.8 %
  2. Tamengos, Aguim e Óis do Bairro 3,252 inhabitants · 2.4 km from the town
    5 ha
    0.3 %

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

  • Agricultural areas48 %
  • Coniferous forest35 %
  • Mixed forest17 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 15 October 2017 and burned 145 ha (the satellite measured 150 ha).

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)
16 Oct 23.2 °C 47 % 48 km/h 5.1 mm Very low 5
17 Oct after 20.8 °C 52 % 37 km/h 21.0 mm Very low 1

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 Oct 2017
After · 23 Oct 2017

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 16 October 2017 the air beside the fire reached 108 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 61: 4.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak108 µg/m³
Days over the guideline4 days
PM10128 µg/m³
141516171819
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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Portugal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Mealhada fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 16 October 2017 and 16 October 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 15 October 2017 at 16:56 and declared extinguished on 18 October 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 150 hectares (1.5 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Uni3O Das Freguesias Da Mealhada, Ventosa Do Bair (145 ha, 6.8 %); Tamengos, Aguim e Óis do Bairro (5 ha, 0.3 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.1 km of Uni3O Das Freguesias Da Mealhada, Ventosa Do Bair. 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 23.2 °C, humidity dropped to 47 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 5, class Very low.
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

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
What do you think is wrong?

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.