How long did the Resende fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 20 August 2017 and 21 August 2017: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 20 August 2017 at 09:01 and declared extinguished on 22 August 2017.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 751 hectares (7.5 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 3 municipalities: Ovadas e Panchora (729 ha, 30 %); Felgueiras e Feirão (23 ha, 1.7 %); Alhões, Bustelo, Gralheira e Ramires (0 ha, 0.0 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Ovadas e Panchora. 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 30.5 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 47 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.

PT · Portugal · 2017-08-20 → 2017-08-21

Resende fire, 20 August 2017 Ovadas e Panchora, Felgueiras e Feirão, Alhões, Bustelo, Gralheira e Ramires

Out · last detection 21 Aug 2017, 13:28 UTC

The fire started on 20 August 2017 in Ovadas e Panchora, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 751 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 20 August 2017 at 09:01 and declared extinguished on 22 August 2017.

It is the 3th largest in Resende since 2016 (of 10 with a page). Number 75 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

Burnt area: 751ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 2days; 20 Aug 2017 – 21 Aug 2017
Municipalities hit: 3; freguesias
Started on: 20 Aug; 2017
Heat detections: 37; in a single hotspot: 206 MW
Danger at start: 36; High · FWI index
Energy released: 851MW; sum of detected power

Play back 21 Aug 2017

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Aug21 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

2021

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

The weather it burned in

30°high

47km/h · peak gust

22%lowest humidity

It had gone 31 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.9 mm on 26 Aug.

This area had burned before

10% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 74 ha in 2016.

3 ha Resende fire, August 2016 101 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire

What happened to each town

Ovadas e Panchora 283 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town where it started

729 ha reached on 20 Aug

30 %
Felgueiras e Feirão 364 inhabitants · 0.6 km from the town

23 ha

1.7 %
Alhões, Bustelo, Gralheira e Ramires 517 inhabitants · 1.6 km from the town

0 ha

0.0 %

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

Other natural land40 %
Scrub and transitional woodland29 %
Agricultural areas22 %
Broadleaved forest8.8 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 100 %

LIC Serra de Montemuro PTCON0025

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.

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 20 August 2017 and burned 750 ha (the satellite measured 751 ha).

Resende Panchorra 20 August 2017 · 09:01 750 ha · extinguished on 22 August 2017 · 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)
20 Aug	30.5 °C	22 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
21 Aug	29.4 °C	29 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 35
22 Aug after	25.8 °C	39 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
23 Aug after	25.1 °C	42 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
24 Aug after	21.1 °C	46 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 23
25 Aug after	23.1 °C	34 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
26 Aug after	24.5 °C	35 %	41 km/h	1.9 mm	Moderate 13

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 13 Aug 2017

After · 28 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 21 August 2017 the air beside the fire reached 24 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak24 µg/m³

Days over the guideline0 days

PM1028 µg/m³

WHO 15

18192021222324

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 · 37Every 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 Resende fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 20 August 2017 and 21 August 2017: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 20 August 2017 at 09:01 and declared extinguished on 22 August 2017.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 751 hectares (7.5 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 3 municipalities: Ovadas e Panchora (729 ha, 30 %); Felgueiras e Feirão (23 ha, 1.7 %); Alhões, Bustelo, Gralheira e Ramires (0 ha, 0.0 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Ovadas e Panchora. 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 30.5 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 47 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

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.

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What really happened?

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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