Mértola fire, June 2019 São Marcos da Ataboeira, Alcaria Ruiva
The fire started on 17 June 2019 in São Marcos da Ataboeira, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 344 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 17 June 2019 at 12:15 and declared extinguished on 17 June 2019.
Number 17 in Portugal in 2019, of 52.
Compare with…
- Burnt area
- 344ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 17 Jun 2019 – 17 Jun 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- freguesias
- Started on
- 17 Jun
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 11
- in a single hotspot: 61 MW
- Danger at start
- 40
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 385MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
17 Jun 2019 · 385 MW · 11
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 53 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
-
289 ha reached on 17 Jun2.8 %
-
Alcaria Ruiva 632 inhabitants · 8.1 km from the centre56 ha reached on 17 Jun0.3 %
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
- Agricultural areas88 %
- Coniferous forest12 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 100 %
- ZEPA Castro Verde PTZPE0046
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 17 June 2019 and burned 343 ha (the satellite measured 344 ha).
- Mértola Alcaria Ruiva 17 June 2019 · 12:15 343 ha · extinguished on 17 June 2019 · 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Jun | 28.9 °C | 21 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 18 Jun after | 24.9 °C | 53 % | 46 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 32 |
| 19 Jun after | 25.0 °C | 47 % | 36 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 29 |
| 20 Jun after | 25.4 °C | 39 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 21 Jun after | 27.5 °C | 31 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 22 Jun after | 30.1 °C | 20 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 23 Jun after | 28.7 °C | 41 % | 38 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 36 |
| 24 Jun after | 27.0 °C | 43 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 25 Jun after | 31.4 °C | 31 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 26 Jun after | 27.8 °C | 44 % | 36 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 32 |
| 27 Jun after | 27.5 °C | 31 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
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 19 June 2019 the air beside the fire reached 8 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO 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 · 11Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 207 haBeja Cabeça GordaMay 2025 · 1 day · 19 km away
- 1,114 haAljustrel União das Freguesias de Aljustrel e Rio de MoinhosJune 2025 · 2 days · 25 km away
- 157 haMértola São Miguel do Pinheiro, São Pedro de Solis e São Sebastião dos CarrosSeptember 2026 · 1 day · 32 km away
- 158 haMessejanaAugust 2025 · 1 day · 35 km away
- 1,068 haAlmodôvar Santa CruzSeptember 2018 · 1 day · 40 km away
- 505 haOuriqueJune 2019 · 1 day · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Mértola fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 17 June 2019 and 17 June 2019: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 17 June 2019 at 12:15 and declared extinguished on 17 June 2019.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 344 hectares (3.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: São Marcos da Ataboeira (289 ha, 2.8 %); Alcaria Ruiva (56 ha, 0.3 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire started in São Marcos da Ataboeira and came within 5.7 km of its centre. That is the distance from the perimeter, or the nearest hotspot, to the point marking the centre; it does not mean it entered the houses.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.9 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 33 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 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 · Emergency number and official warnings ›
- ICNF · Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas ↗
- ANEPC · Proteção Civil ↗
- Fogos.pt (ocorrências em tempo real) ↗
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.
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How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 11 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- Compared with ICNF: 343 official ha against 344 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
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.