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Ourém fire, July 2022 União das Freguesias de Rio de Couros e Casal dos Bernardos, Freixianda, Ribeira do Fárrio e Formigais

Out · last measured on 31 Jul 2022

The fire started on 31 July 2022 in União das Freguesias de Rio de Couros e Casal dos Bernardos, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 470 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 31 July 2022 at 15:25 and declared extinguished on 1 August 2022.

Number 28 in Portugal in 2022, of 107.

We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
470ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
31 Jul 2022 – 31 Jul 2022
Municipalities hit
2
freguesias
Started on
31 Jul
2022
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Natura 2000
0%
of the perimeter is protected land

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

36°high
37km/h · peak gust
34%lowest humidity

It had gone 27 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. União das Freguesias de Rio de Couros e Casal dos Bernardos 1,877 inhabitants · 0.4 km from the town where it started
    435 ha
    9.9 %
  2. Freixianda, Ribeira do Fárrio e Formigais 3,226 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the town
    35 ha
    0.6 %

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

  • Coniferous forest49 %
  • Agricultural areas26 %
  • Scrub and transitional woodland21 %
  • Artificial surfaces3.8 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 0 %

Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 31 July 2022 and burned 412 ha (the satellite measured 470 ha).

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)
31 Jul 36.0 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
1 Aug after 33.4 °C 39 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
2 Aug after 31.3 °C 41 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
3 Aug after 28.2 °C 50 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
4 Aug after 26.9 °C 57 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
5 Aug after 29.7 °C 47 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
6 Aug after 29.3 °C 44 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
7 Aug after 29.0 °C 39 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
8 Aug after 28.6 °C 49 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
9 Aug after 31.2 °C 37 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
10 Aug after 32.4 °C 40 % 46 km/h 0.1 mm High 31

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Jul 2022
After · 7 Aug 2022

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 2 August 2022 the air beside the fire reached 15 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak15 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1025 µg/m³
293031123
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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Portugal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ourém fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 31 July 2022 and 31 July 2022: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 31 July 2022 at 15:25 and declared extinguished on 1 August 2022.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 470 hectares (4.7 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: União das Freguesias de Rio de Couros e Casal dos Bernardos (435 ha, 9.9 %); Freixianda, Ribeira do Fárrio e Formigais (35 ha, 0.6 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.4 km of União das Freguesias de Rio de Couros e Casal dos Bernardos. 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 36.0 °C, humidity dropped to 34 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, 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

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
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We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

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.