Robledo de Chavela fire, August 2020
Robledo de Chavela, Zarzalejo, Santa María de la Alameda
Out · last detection 2 Aug 2020, 13:34 UTC
The fire started on 2 August 2020 in Robledo de Chavela, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 1,113 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 2 August 2020 at 12:19 and declared extinguished on 5 August 2020.
It is the 3th largest in Madrid since 2016 (of 14 with a page). Number 8 in Spain in 2020, of 89.
The power measured by the satellite is low (17.9 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
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
31.5°C · 23% RH
High of 31.5 °C and minimum humidity of 23% on 2 August 2020; gusts of 46 km/h on 2 August 2020.
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.
Living inside
model
≈ 40people
Estimated residents inside the perimeter and 1.2 ha of built-up area (100 m grid, epoch 2020).
Source
GHSL R2023A · JRC
Date
calculated on 24 October 2026
+− cross-check
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.
ⓘ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
Matches: 1,073 ha in the official record (records: 1).
· reconstructedweather
Weather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
· reconstructedGHSL
Population and built-up area computed
· reconstructedpress
Cross-check with press and agencies published
Soy de Madrid · Telemadrid · El Mirador de Madrid · COPE Madrid
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
CSV for this fire robledo-de-chavela-2020-08.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
fecha
focos_viirs
frp_mw
tmax_c
tmin_c
hr_min_pct
viento_max_kmh
racha_max_kmh
precip_mm
fwi
clase_fwi
dentro_del_incendio
2020-08-02
7
76
31.5
18.2
23
20.3
46.4
0
38.5
muy_alto
1
2020-08-03
0
0
28.9
16.4
24
17.3
38.9
0
44.7
muy_alto
1
2020-08-04
0
0
30.6
15.9
22
7.2
24.5
0
33.5
alto
0
2020-08-05
0
0
33.4
17.5
18
7
22.3
0
35
alto
0
2020-08-06
0
0
34.9
21.2
21
14.6
37.4
0
45.5
muy_alto
0
2020-08-07
0
0
35
21.4
18
18.6
46.8
0.3
42.3
muy_alto
0
2020-08-08
0
0
33.2
21.3
18
14.8
44.3
0
44.6
muy_alto
0
2020-08-09
0
0
34.7
20.6
16
20.4
47.2
0
51.2
extremo
0
2020-08-10
0
0
29.8
20.9
22
24.3
50.8
0.7
59.3
extremo
0
2020-08-11
0
0
21.7
14
52
16.1
50.8
7.1
5.5
bajo
0
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: EFFIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), EGIF (MITECO), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
Burnt area
1,113ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
2days
2 Aug 2020 – 3 Aug 2020
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
2 Aug
2020
Heat detections
7
in a single hotspot: 18 MW
Danger at start
38
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
76MW
detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
2 Aug3 Aug
How it evolved, day by day
2 Aug 2020 · 76 MW · 7
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
32°high
46km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity
It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 7.1 mm on 11 Aug.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
How big is it?
It burned the equivalent of 0.7% of the area of London (11 km² against 1,583 km²).
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
It burned the equivalent of 1.8% of the area of Madrid (11 km² against 604 km²).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
It burned the equivalent of 11% of the area of Paris (11 km² against 105 km²).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
It burned the equivalent of 1.2% of the area of Berlin (11 km² against 892 km²).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
Fire perimeterLondon
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
Robledo de Chavela4,818 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the centrewhere it started
796 hareached on 2 Aug
8.4 %
Zarzalejo1,946 inhabitants · 1.0 km from the centre
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.
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 2020
Built-up area1.2ha
Residents≈ 40
Inside the perimeter there were about 1.2 hectares of built-up land and about 40 residents (GHSL 2020, 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.
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)
2 Aug
31.5 °C
23 %
46 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 38
3 Aug
28.9 °C
24 %
39 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 45
4 Aug after
30.6 °C
22 %
24 km/h
0.0 mm
High 34
5 Aug after
33.4 °C
18 %
22 km/h
0.0 mm
High 35
6 Aug after
34.9 °C
21 %
37 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 46
7 Aug after
35.0 °C
18 %
47 km/h
0.3 mm
Very high 42
8 Aug after
33.2 °C
18 %
44 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 45
9 Aug after
34.7 °C
16 %
47 km/h
0.0 mm
Extreme 51
10 Aug after
29.8 °C
22 %
51 km/h
0.7 mm
Extreme 59
11 Aug after
21.7 °C
52 %
51 km/h
7.1 mm
Low 6
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 38.5, a minimum humidity of 23% and 2 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 22.
FWI at the start38.5
Minimum humidity23 %
Days without rain2
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Robledo de Chavela fire, August 2020
1,113 ha2 daysFWI 38.5Min. humidity 23 %
Hoyocasero fire, August 2017
977 ha2 daysFWI 37.7Min. humidity 25 %65 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 3.5 mm on 28 Aug.
It was 1.7 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 2 days, against 2 days.
Only 6 of its 22 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 9 of 22, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.5 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
7.1 mmfirst rain
11 Aug8 days after it ended
46km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 3 Aug, and on 11 Aug 7.1 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 13 of 22, with a median of 3.5 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.
Copernicus dates it between 2 August 2020 and 3 August 2020: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 2 August 2020 at 12:19 and declared extinguished on 5 August 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 1,113 hectares (11.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Robledo de Chavela (796 ha, 8.4 %); Zarzalejo (311 ha, 16 %); Santa María de la Alameda (7 ha, 0.1 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire came within 1.0 km of the centre of Zarzalejo, 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 31.5 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, class Very high.
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: 22. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 660 ha; 32 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 6 of its 22 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 9 of 22, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.5 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 from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 7 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with EGIF (MITECO): 1,073 official ha against 1,113 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
Checked against news and agencies: 4 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 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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.