Monção fire, July 2025 Portela, Portela e Extremo, Abedim
The fire started on 28 July 2025 in Portela, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 199 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 27 July 2025 at 00:13 and declared extinguished on 29 July 2025.
It is the 5th largest in Monção since 2016 (of 10 with a page). Number 64 in Portugal in 2025, of 85.
The power measured by the satellite is low (16.1 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
- 199ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 28 Jul 2025 – 28 Jul 2025
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- freguesias
- Started on
- 28 Jul
- 2025
- Heat detections
- 18
- in a single hotspot: 16 MW
- Danger at start
- 21
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 126MW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
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
It had gone 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
90% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 5 ha in 2016, 4 ha in 2021, 174 ha in 2022, 3 ha in 2024.
- 145 ha Monção fire, July 2022 165 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3 ha Arcos de Valdevez fire, November 2021 205 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 3 ha Arcos de Valdevez fire, September 2024 414 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
137 ha reached on 28 Jul17 %
-
Portela e Extremo 323 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the town50 ha reached on 28 Jul4.2 %
-
Abedim 191 inhabitants · 1.7 km from the town12 ha reached on 28 Jul1.5 %
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
- Other natural land76 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland20 %
- Agricultural areas2.5 %
- Broadleaved forest1.5 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Official record
According to ICNF, this fire started on 27 July 2025 and burned 189 ha (the satellite measured 199 ha).
- Monção Portela 27 July 2025 · 00:13 189 ha · extinguished on 29 July 2025 · 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Jul | 28.1 °C | 41 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 29 Jul after | 29.3 °C | 40 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 30 Jul after | 30.1 °C | 36 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 31 Jul after | 30.2 °C | 38 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 1 Aug after | 29.3 °C | 42 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 2 Aug after | 30.7 °C | 42 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 3 Aug after | 32.7 °C | 35 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 4 Aug after | 32.4 °C | 35 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 5 Aug after | 33.8 °C | 33 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 6 Aug after | 28.6 °C | 48 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 7 Aug after | 27.7 °C | 50 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
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 30 July 2025 the air beside the fire reached 10 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 · 18Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 3,893 haMonção Longos ValesOctober 2017 · 2 days · 8 km away
- 6,662 haArcos de Valdevez Cabana Maior8 August 2016 · 5 days · 17 km away
- 3,333 haAs NevesOctober 2017 · 1 day · 18 km away
- 9,224 haCabração e Moreira do LimaAugust 2016 · 5 days · 24 km away
- 7,225 haPonte da Barca Entre Ambos-os-Rios, Ermida e GermilJuly 2025 · 10 days · 26 km away
- 3,074 haEntrimoSeptember 2016 · 3 days · 27 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Monção fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 28 July 2025 and 28 July 2025: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 27 July 2025 at 00:13 and declared extinguished on 29 July 2025.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 199 hectares (2.0 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Portela (137 ha, 17 %); Portela e Extremo (50 ha, 4.2 %); Abedim (12 ha, 1.5 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.8 km of Portela. 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 28.1 °C, humidity dropped to 41 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 21, class Moderate.
- 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
- ICNF · Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas ↗
- ANEPC · Proteção Civil ↗
- Fogos.pt (ocorrências em tempo real) ↗
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
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.