Ponte da Barca fire, July 2025 Entre Ambos-os-Rios, Ermida e Germil, Lindoso, União das Freguesias de Cibões e Brufe
The fire started on 26 July 2025 in Entre Ambos-os-Rios, Ermida e Germil, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 7,225 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 7 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 26 July 2025 at 21:47 and declared extinguished on 4 August 2025.
It is the largest fire in Ponte da Barca since 2016 (of 10 with a page). Number 6 in Portugal in 2025, of 85.
- Burnt area
- 7,225ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 11days
- 26 Jul 2025 – 5 Aug 2025
- Municipalities hit
- 7
- freguesias
- Started on
- 26 Jul
- 2025
- Heat detections
- 683
- in a single hotspot: 287 MW
- Danger at start
- 26
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 1.2GW
- 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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 12 Aug.
This area had burned before
27% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 120 ha in 2016, 466 ha in 2017, 141 ha in 2018, 41 ha in 2019, 36 ha in 2020, 69 ha in 2021, 1,129 ha in 2022, 82 ha in 2023, 1 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,922 ha that had burned before.
- 792 ha Ponte da Barca fire, July 2022 974 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 397 ha Ponte da Barca fire, April 2017 525 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 199 ha Ponte da Barca fire, January 2022 207 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 120 ha Vila Chã (São João Baptista e Santiago) fire, October 2016 154 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 44 ha Soajo fire, August 2018 102 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Lisbon boundary: geoBoundaries · geoBoundaries, DG Territory (CC0 1.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
2,670 ha reached on 28 Jul69 %
-
Lindoso 374 inhabitants · 1.7 km from the centre1,892 ha reached on 27 Jul41 %
-
União das Freguesias de Cibões e Brufe 304 inhabitants · fire reached the centre1,055 ha reached on 30 Jul44 %
-
Britelo 379 inhabitants · fire reached the centre758 ha reached on 28 Jul59 %
-
Campo do Gerês 149 inhabitants · 1.3 km from the centre727 ha reached on 30 Jul10 %
-
Vila Chã (São João Baptista e Santiago) 540 inhabitants · 2.0 km from the centre124 ha reached on 1 Aug7.3 %
-
Soajo 671 inhabitants · 2.2 km from the centre5 ha reached on 27 Jul0.1 %
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 land86 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland9.0 %
- Broadleaved forest2.1 %
- Agricultural areas1.6 %
- Mixed forest1.4 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 100 %
- LIC Peneda / Gerês PTCON0001
- ZEPA Serra do Gerês PTZPE0002
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 2025Inside the perimeter there were about 2.2 hectares of built-up land and about 90 residents (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
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
According to ICNF, this fire started on 26 July 2025 and burned 7,165 ha (the satellite measured 7,225 ha).
- Ponte da Barca Lindoso 26 July 2025 · 21:47 7,165 ha · extinguished on 4 August 2025 · 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.
Checked against the press
Checked on 30 September 2026We checked this page against 3 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:
- Also known as
- Incêndio do Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês · Incêndio de Ponte da Barca
- Official area reported: 7,550 ha (the satellite measured 7,225 ha)
- Declared extinguished: 4 August 2025
Sources
- Incêndios. Autarca de Ponte da Barca pede rapidez na recuperação de pastagens — ECO, 26 August 2025
- Incêndios. Desativado Plano Municipal de Emergência de Proteção Civil de Ponte da Barca — Observador, 7 August 2025
- Mais de sete mil hectares de área ardida no Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês — RTP
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Jul | 30.3 °C | 27 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 27 Jul | 30.8 °C | 22 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 28 Jul | 29.2 °C | 35 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 29 Jul | 31.3 °C | 28 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 30 Jul | 31.9 °C | 29 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 31 Jul | 32.4 °C | 24 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 1 Aug | 31.8 °C | 22 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 2 Aug | 31.8 °C | 23 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 3 Aug | 34.9 °C | 20 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 4 Aug | 34.8 °C | 21 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 5 Aug | 35.8 °C | 17 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 6 Aug after | 31.9 °C | 27 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 7 Aug after | 32.1 °C | 29 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 8 Aug after | 31.4 °C | 34 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 9 Aug after | 33.6 °C | 28 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 10 Aug after | 33.3 °C | 29 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 11 Aug after | 32.8 °C | 23 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 12 Aug after | 32.3 °C | 25 % | 44 km/h | 1.3 mm | High 28 |
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 3 August 2025 the air beside the fire reached 109 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 48: 3.2 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 · 683Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 6,662 haArcos de Valdevez Soajo8 August 2016 · 9 days · 9 km away
- 3,074 haEntrimoSeptember 2016 · 7 days · 13 km away
- 3,240 haMuíñosOctober 2017 · 2 days · 23 km away
- 3,893 haMonção MerufeOctober 2017 · 2 days · 28 km away
- 9,224 haCabração e Moreira do LimaAugust 2016 · 5 days · 36 km away
- 3,333 haAs NevesOctober 2017 · 1 day · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ponte da Barca fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 26 July 2025 to 5 August 2025 (11 days). The perimeter dates it from 26 July 2025 to 4 August 2025. According to ICNF, it was detected on 26 July 2025 at 21:47 and declared extinguished on 4 August 2025.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 7,225 hectares (72.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 7 municipalities: Entre Ambos-os-Rios, Ermida e Germil (2,670 ha, 69 %); Lindoso (1,892 ha, 41 %); União das Freguesias de Cibões e Brufe (1,055 ha, 44 %); Britelo (758 ha, 59 %); Campo do Gerês (727 ha, 10 %); Vila Chã (São João Baptista e Santiago) (124 ha, 7.3 %); Soajo (5 ha, 0.1 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire started in Entre Ambos-os-Rios, Ermida e Germil and reached its centre: 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 34.9 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 49 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 adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 26 July 2025 to 4 August 2025. 683 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- Compared with ICNF: 7,165 official ha against 7,225 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 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.