How long did the Seia fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 22 August 2016 and 23 August 2016: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 22 August 2016 at 14:46 and declared extinguished on 23 August 2016.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 432 hectares (4.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Teixeira (316 ha, 20 %); União das Freguesias de Vide e Cabeça (117 ha, 2.1 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Teixeira. 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 34.4 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 31 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very 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 · 2016-08-22 → 2016-08-23

Seia fire, August 2016 Teixeira, União das Freguesias de Vide e Cabeça

Out · last detection 23 Aug 2016, 02:12 UTC

The fire started on 22 August 2016 in Teixeira, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 432 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 22 August 2016 at 14:46 and declared extinguished on 23 August 2016.

Number 63 in Portugal in 2016, of 179.

The power measured by the satellite is low (6.9 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area: 432ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 2days; 22 Aug 2016 – 23 Aug 2016
Municipalities hit: 2; freguesias
Started on: 22 Aug; 2016
Heat detections: 20; in a single hotspot: 7 MW
Danger at start: 39; Very high · FWI index
Energy released: 72MW; sum of detected power

Play back 23 Aug 2016

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 22 Aug23 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

2223

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

The weather it burned in

34°high

31km/h · peak gust

19%lowest humidity

It had gone 45 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 24 Aug.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

Teixeira 144 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town

316 ha reached on 23 Aug

20 %
União das Freguesias de Vide e Cabeça 570 inhabitants · 4.4 km from the town where it started

117 ha reached on 22 Aug

2.1 %

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 land84 %
Scrub and transitional woodland11 %
Agricultural areas4.4 %
Coniferous forest1.4 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 38 %

LIC Serra da Estrela PTCON0014

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 22 August 2016 and burned 438 ha (the satellite measured 432 ha).

Seia Vide 22 August 2016 · 14:46 438 ha · extinguished on 23 August 2016 · cause: negligence

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)
22 Aug	34.4 °C	19 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
23 Aug	34.2 °C	30 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 37
24 Aug after	32.4 °C	37 %	28 km/h	1.3 mm	Moderate 20

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 15 Aug 2016

After · 30 Aug 2016

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 26 August 2016 the air beside the fire reached 31 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 21: 1.4 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak31 µg/m³

Days over the guideline4 days

PM1044 µg/m³

WHO 15

20212223242526

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 · 20Every 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 Seia fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 22 August 2016 and 23 August 2016: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 22 August 2016 at 14:46 and declared extinguished on 23 August 2016.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 432 hectares (4.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Teixeira (316 ha, 20 %); União das Freguesias de Vide e Cabeça (117 ha, 2.1 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Teixeira. 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 34.4 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 31 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 39, class Very 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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We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

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