Nonaspe fire, June 2022 Mequinenza, Nonaspe
The fire started on 16 June 2022 in Nonaspe, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 2,045 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 5th largest in Zaragoza since 2016 (of 18 with a page). Number 26 in Spain in 2022, of 196.
- Burnt area
- 2,045ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 3days
- 16 Jun 2022 – 18 Jun 2022
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 16 Jun
- 2022
- Heat detections
- 54
- in a single hotspot: 112 MW
- Danger at start
- 39
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.1GW
- 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 21 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.2 mm on 21 Jun.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Mequinenza 2,236 inhabitants · 12.1 km from the town1,307 ha reached on 17 Jun4.2 %
-
739 ha reached on 16 Jun6.6 %
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 areas46 %
- Coniferous forest21 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland20 %
- Sclerophyllous scrub11 %
- Other natural land1.4 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 78 %
- ZEPA Matarraña - Aiguabarreix ES0000298
- LIC Río Matarranya ES2430097
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 EGIF (MITECO), this fire started on 16 June 2022 and burned 1,560 ha (the satellite measured 2,045 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
- Nonaspe Ribera izquierda río Matarraña 16 June 2022 · 14:13 1,560 ha · extinguished on 22 June 2022 · cause: negligence
MITECO, Estadística General de Incendios Forestales (EGIF). This is the agency’s consolidated statistic: it measures the area in its own way, which is why it can differ from the satellite.
Checked against the press
Checked on 30 September 2026We checked this page against 4 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:
- Also known as
- incendio de Nonaspe-Mequinenza
- Official area reported: 2,000 ha (the satellite measured 2,045 ha)
Sources
- Estabilizados o extinguidos los incendios de este fin de semana en Aragon — Arainfo, 20 June 2022
- El flanco derecho, la principal preocupacion para controlar el incendio de Nonaspe — Aragon TV (Aragon Noticias), 19 June 2022
- Los siete incendios de Aragon, ya estabilizados o bajo control — elDiario.es Aragon, 19 June 2022
- El incendio de Nonaspe alcanza 1.700 hectareas y obliga a desalojar a 36 personas del campin de Caspe — La Comarca, 17 June 2022
Official figures are measured differently from satellite ones and sometimes cover only part of the fire.
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 Jun | 40.3 °C | 12 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 17 Jun | 40.1 °C | 12 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 18 Jun | 36.0 °C | 18 % | 63 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 78 |
| 19 Jun after | 30.7 °C | 40 % | 62 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 20 Jun after | 31.8 °C | 41 % | 58 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 21 Jun after | 32.2 °C | 30 % | 53 km/h | 3.2 mm | Moderate 11 |
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 17 June 2022 the air beside the fire reached 37 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 18: 1.2 times the WHO daily 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 · 54Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Nonaspe fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 16 June 2022 and 18 June 2022: 3 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 2,045 hectares (20.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mequinenza (1,307 ha, 4.2 %); Nonaspe (739 ha, 6.6 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.8 km of Nonaspe. 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 40.3 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 63 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 78, class Very extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Spain (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
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 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.