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Seia fire, October 2017 Aldeias e Mangualde da Serra, Folgosinho, Gouveia

Out · last detection 17 Oct 2017, 14:00 UTC

The fire started on 15 October 2017 in Moimenta da Serra e Vinhó, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 19,125 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 23 municipalities. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 15 October 2017 at 06:03 and declared extinguished on 17 October 2017.

It is the largest fire in Gouveia since 2016 (of 10 with a page). Number 8 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

Burnt area
19,125ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
8days
15 Oct 2017 – 22 Oct 2017
Municipalities hit
23
freguesias
Started on
15 Oct
2017
Heat detections
636
in a single hotspot: 658 MW
Danger at start
46
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
26.3GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

17 Oct 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Oct22 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

151617

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
54km/h · peak gust
19%lowest humidity

It had gone 46 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.0 mm on 2 Nov.

This area had burned before

5% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 935 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Aldeias e Mangualde da Serra 424 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town
    2,841 ha reached on 15 Oct
    75 %
  2. Folgosinho 442 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town
    2,455 ha reached on 16 Oct
    47 %
  3. Gouveia 3,151 inhabitants · 29.3 km from the town
    1,987 ha reached on 15 Oct
    56 %
  4. Sabugueiro 405 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town
    1,829 ha reached on 15 Oct
    46 %
  5. União das Freguesias de Seia, São Romão e Lapa dos Dinheiros
    1,674 ha reached on 15 Oct
    31 %
  6. Figueiró da Serra e Freixo da Serra 377 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town
    1,228 ha reached on 16 Oct
    97 %
  7. Moimenta da Serra e Vinhó 1,071 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town
    1,107 ha reached on 15 Oct
    77 %
  8. Arcozelo 570 inhabitants · 0.1 km from the town
    1,020 ha
    42 %
  9. União das Freguesias de Santa Marinha e São Martinho 502 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town
    1,004 ha
    66 %
  10. Pamos Da Serra where it started
    771 ha reached on 15 Oct
    74 %
  11. Linhares 213 inhabitants · 0.3 km from the town
    724 ha reached on 16 Oct
    46 %
  12. São Paio 699 inhabitants · 1.5 km from the town
    587 ha reached on 16 Oct
    38 %
  13. Rio Torto e Lagarinhos 745 inhabitants · 0.7 km from the town
    500 ha reached on 15 Oct
    26 %
  14. União das Freguesias de Melo e Nabais 800 inhabitants · 1.0 km from the town
    426 ha reached on 16 Oct
    29 %
  15. Ribamondego 262 inhabitants · 0.5 km from the town
    274 ha
    36 %
  16. Mesquitela 203 inhabitants · 2.8 km from the town
    224 ha
    13 %
  17. Cortiçô da Serra, Vide entre Vinhas e Salgueirais 362 inhabitants · 0.5 km from the town
    171 ha
    7.6 %
  18. Carrapichana 180 inhabitants · 0.7 km from the town
    124 ha reached on 16 Oct
    22 %
  19. Pinhanços 727 inhabitants · 0.6 km from the town
    77 ha
    9.2 %
  20. Vila Cortês da Serra 202 inhabitants · 0.9 km from the town
    71 ha reached on 16 Oct
    6.4 %
  21. Nespereira 0.9 km from the town
    46 ha reached on 15 Oct
    8.5 %
  22. Manteigas (Santa Maria) 1,253 inhabitants · 2.7 km from the town
    7 ha
    0.3 %
  23. Videmonte 388 inhabitants · 5.5 km from the town
    0 ha reached on 16 Oct
    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 land48 %
  • Agricultural areas20 %
  • Scrub and transitional woodland17 %
  • Mixed forest8.3 %
  • Coniferous forest6.0 %
  • Broadleaved forest0.6 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 98 %

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, 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 18,128 ha (the satellite measured 19,125 ha).

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.

Checked against the press

Checked on 30 September 2026

We checked this page against 4 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:

Also known as
Seia/Sandomil · Sabugueiro · Incêndio da Serra da Estrela 2017
According to the sources, several fires that ended up merging:
  • Sandomil (Seia) 15 October 2017
  • Sabugueiro (Seia) 15 October 2017
  • Gouveia (registro ICNF aparte: 6.204 ha) 15 October 2017 6,204 ha

Sources

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)
15 Oct 30.1 °C 19 % 51 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 46
16 Oct 23.6 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Oct 17.9 °C 45 % 54 km/h 5.7 mm Very low 5
18 Oct 14.3 °C 64 % 44 km/h 14.3 mm Very low 0
19 Oct 14.5 °C 57 % 36 km/h 0.4 mm Very low 3
20 Oct 18.4 °C 84 % 42 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 1
21 Oct 15.6 °C 59 % 41 km/h 2.1 mm Very low 2
22 Oct 18.0 °C 45 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Low 5
23 Oct after 21.7 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
24 Oct after 23.4 °C 27 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
25 Oct after 23.5 °C 32 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
26 Oct after 24.4 °C 42 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
27 Oct after 25.6 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
28 Oct after 23.1 °C 32 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
29 Oct after 22.1 °C 20 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
30 Oct after 20.0 °C 39 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
31 Oct after 21.1 °C 35 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
1 Nov after 19.1 °C 44 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
2 Nov after 16.8 °C 54 % 33 km/h 4.0 mm Very low 1

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Oct 2017
After · 29 Oct 2017

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 October 2017 the air beside the fire reached 220 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 140: 9.3 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak220 µg/m³
Days over the guideline4 days
PM10268 µg/m³
131415161718192021222324252627282930311
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 · 636Every 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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Portugal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Seia fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 15 October 2017 and 22 October 2017: 8 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 15 October 2017 at 06:03 and declared extinguished on 17 October 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 19,125 hectares (191.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 23 municipalities: Aldeias e Mangualde da Serra (2,841 ha, 75 %); Folgosinho (2,455 ha, 47 %); Gouveia (1,987 ha, 56 %); Sabugueiro (1,829 ha, 46 %); União das Freguesias de Seia, São Romão e Lapa dos Dinheiros (1,674 ha, 31 %); Figueiró da Serra e Freixo da Serra (1,228 ha, 97 %); Moimenta da Serra e Vinhó (1,107 ha, 77 %); Arcozelo (1,020 ha, 42 %); União das Freguesias de Santa Marinha e São Martinho (1,004 ha, 66 %); Pamos Da Serra (771 ha, 74 %); Linhares (724 ha, 46 %); São Paio (587 ha, 38 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Aldeias e Mangualde da Serra. 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 30.1 °C, humidity dropped to 19 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, 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

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.

Report an error
What do you think is wrong?

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.