Pinhel fire, June 2021 Alto do Palurdo, Colmeal e Vilar Torpim
The fire started on 9 June 2021 in Alto do Palurdo, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 356 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 9 June 2021 at 10:39 and declared extinguished on 9 June 2021.
It is the 8th largest in Pinhel since 2016 (of 11 with a page). Number 6 in Portugal in 2021, of 30.
The power measured by the satellite is low (26.0 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…
Suggestions: Pinhel · 2017Guarda · 2025Guarda · 2017Guarda · 2026
- Burnt area
- 356ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 3days
- 9 Jun 2021 – 11 Jun 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- freguesias
- Started on
- 9 Jun
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 10
- in a single hotspot: 26 MW
- Danger at start
- 36
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 83MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 29 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.1 mm on 12 Jun.
This area had burned before
6% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 23 ha in 2017.
What happened to each town
-
354 ha reached on 9 Jun7.5 %
-
Colmeal e Vilar Torpim 196 inhabitants · 2.9 km from the centre2 ha0.0 %
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 land97 %
- Agricultural areas3.1 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 100 %
- ZEPA Vale do Côa PTZPE0039
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.
Complex of 2 fires according to ICNF
According to ICNF, 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 350 ha (the satellite measured 356 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.
- 1 Pinhel Vale da Madeira 9 June 2021 · 10:39 328 ha · extinguished on 9 June 2021 · cause: negligence
- 2 Pinhel Vale da Madeira 11 June 2021 · 14:27 22 ha · extinguished on 11 June 2021 · cause: rekindling
Total according to ICNF: 350 ha, 98 % of the 356 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.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Jun | 30.9 °C | 22 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 10 Jun | 30.5 °C | 27 % | 32 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 32 |
| 11 Jun | 31.0 °C | 27 % | 38 km/h | 5.4 mm | Low 11 |
| 12 Jun after | 29.8 °C | 34 % | 34 km/h | 6.1 mm | Low 5 |
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 11 June 2021 the air beside the fire reached 14 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO 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 · 10Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 9,523 haGuarda Alverca da Beira/Bouça CovaAugust 2025 · 3 days · 19 km away
- 4,268 haGuarda Lameiras14 October 2017 · 3 days · 22 km away
- 5,226 haGuarda CerdeiraJuly 2026 · 3 days · 25 km away
- 8,991 haGuarda Rochoso e Monte Margarida17 July 2017 · 3 days · 26 km away
- 5,710 haFreixo de Espada à Cinta LigaresAugust 2017 · 2 days · 33 km away
- 4,809 haFornos de Algodres Aldeia NovaOctober 2017 · 2 days · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Pinhel fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 9 June 2021 and 11 June 2021: 3 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 9 June 2021 at 10:39 and declared extinguished on 9 June 2021.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 356 hectares (3.6 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Alto do Palurdo (354 ha, 7.5 %); Colmeal e Vilar Torpim (2 ha, 0.0 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire came within 2.9 km of the centre of Colmeal e Vilar Torpim, the closest of the areas it touched. 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 31.0 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 38 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 · 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. 10 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- Compared with ICNF: 350 official ha against 356 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.