Moreira do Castelo fire, June 2021 Codeçoso, Arnoia, Moreira do Castelo
The fire started on 5 June 2021 in Moreira do Castelo, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 137 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 5 June 2021 at 15:23 and declared extinguished on 5 June 2021.
It is the 9th largest in Celorico de Basto since 2016 (of 12 with a page). Number 23 in Portugal in 2021, of 30.
The power measured by the satellite is low (4.3 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
- 137ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 5 Jun 2021 – 5 Jun 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- freguesias
- Started on
- 5 Jun
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 2
- in a single hotspot: 4 MW
- Danger at start
- 11
- Low · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 8MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
5 Jun 2021 · 8 MW · 2
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 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.5 mm on 11 Jun.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Codeçoso 388 inhabitants · 0.6 km from the centre91 ha8.6 %
-
Arnoia 1,512 inhabitants · 2.0 km from the centre25 ha1.3 %
-
20 ha reached on 5 Jun3.4 %
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
- Scrub and transitional woodland87 %
- Broadleaved forest13 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2020Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu
Official record
According to ICNF, this fire started on 5 June 2021 and burned 146 ha (the satellite measured 137 ha).
- Celorico de Basto Moreira do Castelo 5 June 2021 · 15:23 146 ha · extinguished on 5 June 2021 · 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Jun | 24.8 °C | 42 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 6 Jun after | 24.7 °C | 54 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 7 Jun after | 25.1 °C | 58 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 8 Jun after | 25.1 °C | 45 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 9 Jun after | 27.3 °C | 41 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 10 Jun after | 27.0 °C | 46 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 11 Jun after | 29.8 °C | 39 % | 33 km/h | 4.5 mm | Very low 3 |
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.
Detections table · 2Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 2,682 haCelorico de Basto Codeçoso14 September 2024 · 6 days · 3 km away
- 6,845 haUnião das Freguesias de Campelo e Ovil e Loivos do MonteSeptember 2024 · 3 days · 17 km away
- 6,087 haVila Real Vila Marim3 August 2025 · 13 days · 20 km away
- 2,728 haCabeceiras de Basto Cavez14 September 2024 · 6 days · 26 km away
- 5,850 haVila Real Adoufe e Vilarinho de Samardã21 August 2022 · 6 days · 27 km away
- 2,869 haRibeira de Pena AlvãoSeptember 2016 · 7 days · 28 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Moreira do Castelo fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 5 June 2021 and 5 June 2021: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 5 June 2021 at 15:23 and declared extinguished on 5 June 2021.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 137 hectares (1.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Codeçoso (91 ha, 8.6 %); Arnoia (25 ha, 1.3 %); Moreira do Castelo (20 ha, 3.4 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire started in Moreira do Castelo and came within 0.6 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 24.8 °C, humidity dropped to 42 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 11, class 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 · 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.
Report an error
How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 2 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- Compared with ICNF: 146 official ha against 137 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
- Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.