How long did the Monção fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 14 October 2017 and 15 October 2017: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 14 October 2017 at 20:21 and declared extinguished on 16 October 2017.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 3,893 hectares (38.9 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 10 municipalities: Merufe (1,401 ha, 49 %); Longos Vales (1,161 ha, 83 %); Sago, Lordelo e Parada (544 ha, 65 %); Barbeita (445 ha, 63 %); Bela (240 ha, 63 %); Trute (32 ha, 5.3 %); União das Freguesias de Anhões e Luzio (26 ha, 1.8 %); Segude (24 ha, 10 %); Cambeses (17 ha, 4.0 %); União das Freguesias de Ceivães e Badim (7 ha, 0.8 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Merufe. 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 29.5 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 65 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 · 2017-10-14 → 2017-10-15

Monção fire, October 2017 Merufe, Longos Vales, Sago, Lordelo e Parada

Out · last detection 15 Oct 2017, 14:39 UTC

The fire started on 14 October 2017 in Longos Vales, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 3,893 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 10 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 14 October 2017 at 20:21 and declared extinguished on 16 October 2017.

It is the largest fire in Monção since 2016 (of 10 with a page). Number 23 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

Burnt area: 3,893ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 2days; 14 Oct 2017 – 15 Oct 2017
Municipalities hit: 10; freguesias
Started on: 14 Oct; 2017
Heat detections: 177; in a single hotspot: 177 MW
Danger at start: 23; High · FWI index
Energy released: 4.8GW; sum of detected power

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 14 Oct15 Oct

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

30°high

65km/h · peak gust

25%lowest humidity

It had gone 19 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 21.6 mm on 16 Oct.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

Merufe 864 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town where it started

1,401 ha reached on 15 Oct

49 %
Longos Vales 863 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town

1,161 ha reached on 15 Oct

83 %
Sago, Lordelo e Parada 381 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town

544 ha reached on 15 Oct

65 %
Barbeita 923 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town

445 ha reached on 15 Oct

63 %
Bela 596 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town

240 ha reached on 15 Oct

63 %
Trute 246 inhabitants · 1.2 km from the town

32 ha reached on 15 Oct

5.3 %
União das Freguesias de Anhões e Luzio 196 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the town

26 ha reached on 15 Oct

1.8 %
Segude 320 inhabitants · 0.4 km from the town

24 ha

10 %
Cambeses 496 inhabitants · 0.9 km from the town

17 ha reached on 15 Oct

4.0 %
União das Freguesias de Ceivães e Badim 553 inhabitants · 2.7 km from the town

7 ha

0.8 %

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 woodland30 %
Agricultural areas23 %
Other natural land20 %
Mixed forest13 %
Coniferous forest12 %
Broadleaved forest1.4 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 1 %

LIC Rio Minho PTCON0019

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 14 October 2017 and burned 3,134 ha (the satellite measured 3,893 ha).

Monção Merufe 14 October 2017 · 20:21 3,134 ha · extinguished on 16 October 2017 · 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)
14 Oct	26.5 °C	29 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	High 23
15 Oct	29.5 °C	25 %	65 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
16 Oct after	20.1 °C	53 %	65 km/h	21.6 mm	Very low 1

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 7 Oct 2017

After · 22 Oct 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 16 October 2017 the air beside the fire reached 124 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 59: 4.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak124 µg/m³

Days over the guideline3 days

PM10152 µg/m³

WHO 15

12131415161718

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 · 177Every 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 Monção fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 14 October 2017 and 15 October 2017: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 14 October 2017 at 20:21 and declared extinguished on 16 October 2017.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 3,893 hectares (38.9 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 10 municipalities: Merufe (1,401 ha, 49 %); Longos Vales (1,161 ha, 83 %); Sago, Lordelo e Parada (544 ha, 65 %); Barbeita (445 ha, 63 %); Bela (240 ha, 63 %); Trute (32 ha, 5.3 %); União das Freguesias de Anhões e Luzio (26 ha, 1.8 %); Segude (24 ha, 10 %); Cambeses (17 ha, 4.0 %); União das Freguesias de Ceivães e Badim (7 ha, 0.8 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Merufe. 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 29.5 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 65 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