Oímbra fire, September 2016 Oímbra, Monterrei
The fire started on 6 September 2016 in Oímbra, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 1,869 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 13th largest in Ourense since 2016 (of 118 with a page). Number 7 in Spain in 2016, of 69.
- Burnt area
- 1,869ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 2days
- 6 Sept 2016 – 7 Sept 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 6 Sept
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 42
- in a single hotspot: 108 MW
- Danger at start
- 32
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.0GW
- 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 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 24.8 mm on 13 Sept.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
1,347 ha reached on 6 Sept19 %
-
Monterrei 2,403 inhabitants · 6.2 km from the town522 ha reached on 7 Sept4.4 %
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 land61 %
- Agricultural areas25 %
- Broadleaved forest11 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland4.0 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Official record
According to EGIF (MITECO), this fire started on 6 September 2016 and burned 1,363 ha (the satellite measured 1,869 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
- Oímbra 6 September 2016 · 14:05 1,363 ha · extinguished on 10 September 2016 · cause: arson
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 3 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:
- Also known as
- incendio de A Granxa (Oímbra) · incendio de Bousés (Oímbra) · incendio de Oímbra-Monterrei
- Official area reported: 2,035 ha (the satellite measured 1,869 ha)
- Declared under control (not yet extinguished): 9 September 2016
Sources
- Sigue activo el incendio de Entrimo tras quemar 2.800 hectáreas — Galiciapress, 9 September 2016
- El fuego calcinó casi cuatro mil hectáreas en 36 horas en 7 municipios — La Región, 7 September 2016
- El fuego obligó a desalojar un pueblo en Oímbra y rodeó otro en Muíños — La Región, 6 September 2016
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Sept | 35.0 °C | 19 % | 45 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 32 |
| 7 Sept | 31.9 °C | 23 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 8 Sept after | 23.6 °C | 45 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 9 Sept after | 24.5 °C | 29 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 10 Sept after | 25.5 °C | 45 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 11 Sept after | 27.8 °C | 38 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 12 Sept after | 28.3 °C | 31 % | 47 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 22 |
| 13 Sept after | 18.8 °C | 59 % | 54 km/h | 24.8 mm | Very low 0 |
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 7 September 2016 the air beside the fire reached 142 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 74: 5.0 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 · 42Every 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 Oímbra fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 6 September 2016 and 7 September 2016: 2 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 1,869 hectares (18.7 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Oímbra (1,347 ha, 19 %); Monterrei (522 ha, 4.4 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.9 km of Oímbra. 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 35.0 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, class High.
- 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.