How long did the Paredes fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 13 August 2017 and 13 August 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 12 August 2017 at 14:42 and declared extinguished on 13 August 2017.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 334 hectares (3.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 3 municipalities: Lagares e Figueira (226 ha, 14 %); Sobreira (86 ha, 3.9 %); Capela (23 ha, 1.7 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.6 km of Lagares e Figueira. 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 29.5 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, 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.

PT · Portugal · 2017-08-13 → 2017-08-13

Paredes fire, August 2017 Lagares e Figueira, Sobreira, Capela

Out · last measured on 13 Aug 2017

The fire started on 13 August 2017 in Lagares e Figueira, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 334 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 12 August 2017 at 14:42 and declared extinguished on 13 August 2017.

It is the 5th largest in Penafiel since 2016 (of 11 with a page). Number 112 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

Burnt area: 334ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 1day; 13 Aug 2017 – 13 Aug 2017
Municipalities hit: 3; freguesias
Started on: 13 Aug; 2017
Heat detections: 3; in a single hotspot: 66 MW
Danger at start: 29; High · FWI index

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 13 Aug13 Aug

The weather it burned in

30°high

32km/h · peak gust

36%lowest humidity

It had gone 24 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

Lagares e Figueira 2,780 inhabitants · 0.6 km from the town where it started

226 ha

14 %
Sobreira 4,124 inhabitants · 2.5 km from the town

86 ha reached on 12 Aug

3.9 %
Capela 964 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the town

23 ha

1.7 %

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

Scrub and transitional woodland93 %
Other natural land7.2 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 12 August 2017 and burned 330 ha (the satellite measured 334 ha).

Paredes Sobreira 12 August 2017 · 14:42 330 ha · extinguished on 13 August 2017 · cause: unknown

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	Danger (FWI)
13 Aug	29.5 °C	36 %	32 km/h	High 29
14 Aug after	23.5 °C	60 %	36 km/h	Moderate 20
15 Aug after	23.8 °C	56 %	42 km/h	High 22
16 Aug after	25.1 °C	46 %	42 km/h	High 24
17 Aug after	27.0 °C	49 %	44 km/h	High 24
18 Aug after	25.3 °C	59 %	41 km/h	High 24
19 Aug after	29.4 °C	42 %	40 km/h	High 27
20 Aug after	34.2 °C	27 %	41 km/h	Very high 38
21 Aug after	30.4 °C	32 %	36 km/h	High 35
22 Aug after	26.4 °C	54 %	38 km/h	High 26
23 Aug after	24.7 °C	59 %	36 km/h	High 22

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 6 Aug 2017

After · 20 Aug 2017

Before After

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 13 August 2017 the air beside the fire reached 23 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 15: 1.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak23 µg/m³

Days over the guideline1 day

PM1034 µg/m³

WHO 15

111213141516

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)

Detections table · 3Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.

⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.

Date and time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Portugal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Paredes fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 13 August 2017 and 13 August 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 12 August 2017 at 14:42 and declared extinguished on 13 August 2017.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 334 hectares (3.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 3 municipalities: Lagares e Figueira (226 ha, 14 %); Sobreira (86 ha, 3.9 %); Capela (23 ha, 1.7 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.6 km of Lagares e Figueira. 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 29.5 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, 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

NASA FIRMS ↗
EFFIS · Copernicus ↗

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

What do you think is wrong?

Dates or duration Place or towns Burned area Name It was not a wildfire Same fire as another page Something else

What really happened?

Your connection to the fire (optional) Email (optional)

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.

Where it burned