Riotuerto fire, February 2019
Riotuerto, Liérganes
Out · last detection 17 Feb 2019, 01:46 UTC
The fire started on 15 February 2019 in Riotuerto, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 110 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 162th largest in Cantabria since 2016 (of 179 with a page). Number 95 in Spain in 2019, of 102.
The power measured by the satellite is low (3.8 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Burned area
with caveats
110ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
This page110EGIF (MITECO)138
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus)
Date
perimeter revised on 2 March 2022
+− cross-check
EGIF (MITECO): 138 ha (matched records: 2). Difference between the page and the official record: −20.4%. Matched on 8 November 2026. The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Duration by satellite
satellite only
3days
15 Feb 2019 to 17 Feb 2019: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 17 Feb 2019, 01:46 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only
15 Feb 2019
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
15 Feb 2019
+− cross-check
The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
Hotspots
satellite only
5
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 4 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
Date
15 Feb 2019 – 17 Feb 2019
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only
4MW
Total radiative power on 15 February 2019; hotspots that day: 1.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
15 Feb 2019
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model
3.0FWI · very low
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 4.
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings ›
Weather during the fire
model
20.1°C · 33% RH
High of 20.1 °C and minimum humidity of 33% on 16 February 2019; gusts of 43 km/h on 17 February 2019.
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
ⓘThis page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official EGIF (MITECO) record
Nearby records with very different figures: 138 ha (records: 2).
A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
20°high
43km/h · peak gust
33%lowest humidity
It had gone 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.7 mm on 18 Feb.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
Riotuerto1,682 inhabitants · 2.0 km from the centrewhere it started
105 hareached on 15 Feb
3.5 %
Liérganes2,365 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the centre
5 ha
0.1 %
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 land73 %
Agricultural areas19 %
Broadleaved forest8.0 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Official record
Several official records match this area
According to EGIF (MITECO), 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 138 ha (the satellite measured 110 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
EGIF (MITECO) 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.
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)
15 Feb
19.1 °C
36 %
36 km/h
0.0 mm
Very low 3
16 Feb
20.1 °C
33 %
40 km/h
0.0 mm
Very low 4
17 Feb
19.0 °C
35 %
43 km/h
0.0 mm
Low 6
18 Feb after
14.2 °C
60 %
31 km/h
3.7 mm
Very low 3
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 3.0, a minimum humidity of 36% and 4 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 25.
FWI at the start3.0
Minimum humidity36 %
Days without rain4
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Riotuerto fire, February 2019
110 ha3 daysFWI 3.0Min. humidity 36 %
Lamasón fire, April 2024
118 ha1 dayFWI 3.8Min. humidity 36 %61 km away, in 2024
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 13.0 mm on 7 Apr.
It burned an area similar to its twins (110 ha against a median of 163 ha) and lasted 3 days, against 2 days.
All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 5.8 mm.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
3.7 mmfirst rain
18 Febthe day after it ended
43km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 17 Feb, and on 18 Feb 3.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 25 of 25, with a median of 5.8 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 8 Feb 2019
After · 24 Feb 2019
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 16 February 2019 the air beside the fire reached 21 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak21µg/m³
Days over the guideline0days
PM1035µg/m³
WHO 15
13 Feb15 Feb17 Feb19 Feb
GoodFairModeratePoorVery poorExtremely 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· 5Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.›
⬇ Download CSVTimes in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 15 February 2019 to 17 February 2019 (3 days). The perimeter dates it from 15 February 2019 to 16 February 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 110 hectares (1.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Riotuerto (105 ha, 3.5 %); Liérganes (5 ha, 0.1 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire came within 1.8 km of the centre of Liérganes, 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 20.1 °C, humidity dropped to 33 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 6, class Low.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Spain (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 25. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 163 ha; 0 % went past 1,000 ha. All of them had rain in the ten days after the end: the first rainy day brought a median of 5.8 mm.
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.
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 errorHow we know this›
Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 15 February 2019 to 16 February 2019. 5 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with EGIF (MITECO): 138 official ha against 110 ha of perimeter; similar, but with reservations.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
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 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.