Ourém fire, 24 August 2023 União das Freguesias de Rio de Couros e Casal dos Bernardos, Caxarias
The fire started on 24 August 2023 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 323 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 23 August 2023 at 17:33 and declared extinguished on 24 August 2023.
Number 14 in Portugal in 2023, of 38.
The power measured by the satellite is low (3.2 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
Compare with…
- Burnt area
- 323ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 24 Aug 2023 – 24 Aug 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- freguesias
- Started on
- 24 Aug
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 27
- in a single hotspot: 3 MW
- Danger at start
- 41
- Very high · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 59MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
24 Aug 2023 · 59 MW · 27
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 46 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 2 Sept.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
União das Freguesias de Rio de Couros e Casal dos Bernardos 1,877 inhabitants · 1.3 km from the centre where it started260 ha reached on 24 Aug5.9 %
-
Caxarias 2,136 inhabitants · 2.5 km from the centre64 ha reached on 24 Aug3.5 %
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
- Mixed forest77 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland9.9 %
- Broadleaved forest7.7 %
- Agricultural areas2.8 %
- Coniferous forest2.5 %
- Other natural land0.6 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Official record
According to ICNF, this fire started on 23 August 2023 and burned 313 ha (the satellite measured 323 ha).
- Ourém Rio de Couros 23 August 2023 · 17:33 313 ha · extinguished on 24 August 2023 · cause: arson
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Aug | 32.2 °C | 35 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 25 Aug after | 30.0 °C | 41 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 26 Aug after | 24.3 °C | 41 % | 62 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 27 Aug after | 25.0 °C | 40 % | 58 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 28 Aug after | 26.7 °C | 42 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 29 Aug after | 26.7 °C | 44 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 30 Aug after | 27.4 °C | 39 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 31 Aug after | 29.2 °C | 37 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 1 Sept after | 25.8 °C | 47 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 2 Sept after | 24.1 °C | 50 % | 35 km/h | 1.3 mm | Moderate 15 |
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 24 August 2023 the air beside the fire reached 27 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 16: 1.1 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 · 27Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 8,311 haAnsião Freixianda, Ribeira do Fárrio e FormigaisJuly 2022 · 8 days · 8 km away
- 3,691 haLeiria Colmeias e MemóriaJuly 2022 · 4 days · 16 km away
- 25,305 haFerreira do Zêzere Nossa Senhora do PrantoAugust 2017 · 9 days · 28 km away
- 46,769 haPedrógão GrandeJune 2017 · 10 days · 32 km away
- 4,079 haAbrantes Abrantes (São Vicente e São João) e AlferraredeAugust 2017 · 5 days · 34 km away
- 18,900 haPinhal de Leiria Pataias e MartingançaOctober 2017 · 8 days · 37 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ourém fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 24 August 2023 and 24 August 2023: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 23 August 2023 at 17:33 and declared extinguished on 24 August 2023.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 323 hectares (3.2 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 (260 ha, 5.9 %); Caxarias (64 ha, 3.5 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire started in União das Freguesias de Rio de Couros e Casal dos Bernardos and came within 1.3 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 32.2 °C, humidity dropped to 35 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, class Very 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 · 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. 27 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- Compared with ICNF: 313 official ha against 323 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
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.