How long did the Pedrógão Grande fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 17 June 2017 to 26 June 2017 (10 days). The perimeter dates it from 17 June 2017 to 25 June 2017. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 17 June 2017 at 14:43 and declared extinguished on 22 June 2017.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 46,769 hectares (467.7 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 26 municipalities: Alvares (6,705 ha, 66 %); Pedrógão Grande (5,026 ha, 63 %); Figueiró dos Vinhos e Bairradas (4,195 ha, 78 %); Castanheira de Pera e Coentral (3,786 ha, 57 %); Campelo (3,294 ha, 64 %); Graça (3,105 ha, 98 %); Aguda (3,024 ha, 76 %); Portela do Fojo-Machio (2,950 ha, 56 %); Cernache do Bonjardim, Nesperal e Palhais (2,847 ha, 28 %); Pessegueiro (2,813 ha, 88 %); Cadafaz e Colmeal (2,242 ha, 32 %); Vila Facaia (1,707 ha, 100 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The fire reached the centre of Alvares: the point marking it was inside the burnt area or less than 500 metres from it. That does not mean houses burned.

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 36.6 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 27, 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 · 2017-06-17 → 2017-06-26

Pedrógão Grande fire, June 2017 Alvares, Pedrógão Grande, Figueiró dos Vinhos e Bairradas

Out · last detection 26 Jun 2017, 14:18 UTC

The fire started on 17 June 2017 in Pedrógão Grande, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 10 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 46,769 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 26 municipalities. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 17 June 2017 at 14:43 and declared extinguished on 22 June 2017.

Number 2 in Portugal in 2017, of 211.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Castanheira de Pera · 2016 Gois · 2016 Ferreira do Zêzere · 2017 Ansião · 2022

Burnt area: 46,769ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 10days; 17 Jun 2017 – 26 Jun 2017
Municipalities hit: 26; freguesias
Started on: 17 Jun; 2017
Heat detections: 1,823; in a single hotspot: 1,080 MW
Danger at start: 27; High · FWI index
Average daily power: 6.4GW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Jun26 Jun

Play back 26 Jun 2017

How it evolved, day by day

17 Jun 18 Jun 19 Jun 21 Jun 23 Jun

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

37°high

42km/h · peak gust

22%lowest humidity

It had gone 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 27 Jun.

This area had burned before

1% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 583 ha in 2016.

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 30% of the area of London (468 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

Alvares 686 inhabitants · fire reached the centre

6,705 ha reached on 18 Jun

66 %
Pedrógão Grande 2,257 inhabitants · 1.0 km from the centre where it started

5,026 ha reached on 17 Jun

63 %
Figueiró dos Vinhos e Bairradas 3,460 inhabitants · fire reached the centre

4,195 ha reached on 18 Jun

78 %
Castanheira de Pera e Coentral 2,657 inhabitants

3,786 ha reached on 18 Jun

57 %
Campelo 191 inhabitants · fire reached the centre

3,294 ha reached on 18 Jun

64 %
Graça 598 inhabitants · fire reached the centre

3,105 ha reached on 18 Jun

98 %
Aguda 909 inhabitants · 0.8 km from the centre

3,024 ha reached on 18 Jun

76 %
Portela do Fojo-Machio 452 inhabitants · fire reached the centre

2,950 ha reached on 18 Jun

56 %
Cernache do Bonjardim, Nesperal e Palhais 3,364 inhabitants · 1.0 km from the centre

2,847 ha reached on 19 Jun

28 %
Pessegueiro 187 inhabitants · fire reached the centre

2,813 ha reached on 18 Jun

88 %
Cadafaz e Colmeal 320 inhabitants · fire reached the centre

2,242 ha reached on 18 Jun

32 %
Vila Facaia 536 inhabitants · fire reached the centre

1,707 ha reached on 18 Jun

100 %
Castelo fire reached the centre

1,465 ha reached on 19 Jun

60 %
Pampilhosa da Serra 1,304 inhabitants · 3.6 km from the centre

1,115 ha reached on 19 Jun

11 %
Espinhal 733 inhabitants · 3.7 km from the centre

1,044 ha reached on 18 Jun

36 %
Maçãs de Dona Maria 1,495 inhabitants · 1.6 km from the centre

422 ha reached on 18 Jun

17 %
Cumeeira 857 inhabitants · 3.5 km from the centre

363 ha reached on 18 Jun

17 %
Arega 721 inhabitants · 1.6 km from the centre

316 ha reached on 19 Jun

11 %
Carvalhal 2.0 km from the centre

178 ha

18 %
Avelar 1,931 inhabitants · 1.0 km from the centre

112 ha reached on 18 Jun

13 %
Sobral 2.6 km from the centre

63 ha reached on 19 Jun

3.3 %
Álvaro 226 inhabitants · 4.1 km from the centre

49 ha reached on 19 Jun

1.6 %
Celavisa 142 inhabitants · 1.9 km from the centre

2 ha

0.2 %
Madeirã 154 inhabitants · 1.9 km from the centre

2 ha reached on 20 Jun

0.1 %
Vila Nova 793 inhabitants · 4.2 km from the centre

0 ha reached on 19 Jun

0.0 %
Góis 1,874 inhabitants · 4.2 km from the centre

0 ha

0.0 %

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

Other natural land85 %
Agricultural areas6.0 %
Scrub and transitional woodland3.5 %
Mixed forest3.3 %
Other land cover1.3 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 5 %

LIC Serra da Lousã PTCON0060

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.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2015

Built-up area185 ha

Residents≈ 7,700

Inside the perimeter there were about 185 hectares of built-up land and about 7,700 residents (GHSL 2015, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

Official record

Complex of 2 fires according to ICNF

According to ICNF, 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 47,879 ha (the satellite measured 46,769 ha).

ICNF records each fire that started at a different time or place separately; the satellite sees a single burned area, so this page groups them together. The numbers on the map show where each one started.

When each one burned

1 30,359 ha 2 17,521 ha

17 Jun22 Jun

negligence natural (lightning)

1 Pedrógão Grande Pedrógão Grande 17 June 2017 · 14:43 30,359 ha · extinguished on 22 June 2017 · cause: negligence
2 Góis Alvares 17 June 2017 · 14:52 17,521 ha · extinguished on 22 June 2017 · cause: natural (lightning)

Total according to ICNF: 47,879 ha, 102 % of the 46,769 ha in the satellite perimeter.

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.

Checked against the press

Checked on 29 September 2026

We checked this page against 3 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:

Also known as: Incêndio de Pedrógão Grande · Complexo de incêndios de Pedrógão Grande e concelhos limítrofes · Incêndio de Góis
According to the sources, several fires that ended up merging:: Pedrógão Grande (Leiria) 17 June 2017 28,914 ha

Góis (Coimbra) 17 June 2017 17,521 ha; Official area reported: 46,435 ha (the satellite measured 46,769 ha)

Sources

Incêndio de Pedrógão Grande provocado por descarga elétrica e o de Góis por um raio — Visão, 12 October 2017
A área ardida. Os prejuízos. As contas. Todos os números da tragédia de Pedrógão Grande em 4 gráficos — Observador, 3 July 2017
Incêndio florestal de Pedrógão Grande em 2017 — Wikipédia PT (solo pista)

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)
17 Jun	36.6 °C	22 %	29 km/h	0.2 mm	High 27
18 Jun	34.2 °C	27 %	34 km/h	1.9 mm	Moderate 17
19 Jun	34.6 °C	27 %	37 km/h	2.0 mm	Moderate 18
20 Jun	34.6 °C	30 %	33 km/h	0.1 mm	High 25
21 Jun	30.8 °C	44 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
22 Jun	25.9 °C	49 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 21
23 Jun	26.8 °C	44 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
24 Jun	24.3 °C	45 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
25 Jun	23.7 °C	53 %	35 km/h	0.3 mm	Moderate 18
26 Jun	24.1 °C	53 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
27 Jun after	22.3 °C	58 %	50 km/h	1.0 mm	Moderate 13

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 10 Jun 2017

After · 3 Jul 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.

Detections table · 1,823Every 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 Pedrógão Grande fire last?: According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 17 June 2017 to 26 June 2017 (10 days). The perimeter dates it from 17 June 2017 to 25 June 2017. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 17 June 2017 at 14:43 and declared extinguished on 22 June 2017.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 46,769 hectares (467.7 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 26 municipalities: Alvares (6,705 ha, 66 %); Pedrógão Grande (5,026 ha, 63 %); Figueiró dos Vinhos e Bairradas (4,195 ha, 78 %); Castanheira de Pera e Coentral (3,786 ha, 57 %); Campelo (3,294 ha, 64 %); Graça (3,105 ha, 98 %); Aguda (3,024 ha, 76 %); Portela do Fojo-Machio (2,950 ha, 56 %); Cernache do Bonjardim, Nesperal e Palhais (2,847 ha, 28 %); Pessegueiro (2,813 ha, 88 %); Cadafaz e Colmeal (2,242 ha, 32 %); Vila Facaia (1,707 ha, 100 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The fire reached the centre of Alvares: the point marking it was inside the burnt area or less than 500 metres from it. That does not mean houses burned.
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 36.6 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 27, 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 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

NASA FIRMS ↗
EFFIS · Copernicus ↗

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

25 October 2026 Last day with fire: 25 June 2017 → 26 June 2017.

RSS Changes to this page

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.

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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?

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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.

How we know this

Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 17 June 2017 to 25 June 2017. 1,823 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with ICNF: 47,879 official ha against 46,769 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
Checked against news and agencies: 3 confirmed sources.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2015, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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