Ruente fire, 29 March 2023 Ruente, Cabezón de la Sal, Mazcuerras
The fire started on 29 March 2023 in Ruente, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 126 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities. According to EGIF (MITECO), the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 27 March 2023 at 18:42 and declared extinguished on 30 March 2023.
It is the 139th largest in Cantabria since 2016 (of 179 with a page). Number 101 in Spain in 2023, of 124.
The power measured by the satellite is low (6.4 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
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- Burnt area
- 126ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 3days
- 29 Mar 2023 – 31 Mar 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 29 Mar
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 11
- in a single hotspot: 6 MW
- Danger at start
- 6
- Low · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 16MW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 7.1 mm on 1 Apr.
This area had burned before
64% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 81 ha in 2021.
What happened to each town
-
109 ha reached on 30 Mar1.6 %
-
Cabezón de la Sal 8,226 inhabitants · 2.6 km from the centre17 ha0.5 %
-
Mazcuerras 2,068 inhabitants · 3.6 km from the centre0 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 land56 %
- Broadleaved forest44 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 1 %
- LIC Río Saja ES1300020
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 EGIF (MITECO)
According to EGIF (MITECO), 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 143 ha (the satellite measured 126 ha).
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.
- 1 Cabezón de la Sal Hoz de Santalucia 27 March 2023 · 18:42 134 ha · extinguished on 30 March 2023 · cause: arson
- 2 Ruente Peña Flor - Monte Aá 28 March 2023 · 22:15 9 ha · extinguished on 29 March 2023 · cause: arson
Total according to EGIF (MITECO): 143 ha, 113 % of the 126 ha in the satellite perimeter.
MITECO, Estadística General de Incendios Forestales (EGIF). This is the agency’s consolidated statistic: it measures the area in its own way, which is why it can differ from the satellite.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Mar | 24.1 °C | 25 % | 45 km/h | 0.6 mm | Low 6 |
| 30 Mar | 18.3 °C | 46 % | 44 km/h | 0.3 mm | Low 5 |
| 31 Mar | 15.0 °C | 55 % | 41 km/h | 2.3 mm | Very low 1 |
| 1 Apr after | 10.5 °C | 73 % | 58 km/h | 7.1 mm | Very low 0 |
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 31 March 2023 the air beside the fire reached 33 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 22: 1.4 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 · 11Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ruente fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 29 March 2023 and 31 March 2023: 3 days between the first and last image with fire. According to EGIF (MITECO), the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 27 March 2023 at 18:42 and declared extinguished on 30 March 2023.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 126 hectares (1.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Ruente (109 ha, 1.6 %); Cabezón de la Sal (17 ha, 0.5 %); Mazcuerras (0 ha, 0.0 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire started in Ruente and came within 1.1 km of its centre. 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 24.1 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 45 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.
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 ›
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.
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How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 11 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- Compared with EGIF (MITECO): 143 official ha against 126 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 (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.