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Selaya fire, 20 February 2021 Selaya, San Roque de Riomiera, Vega de Pas

Out · last measured on 20 Feb 2021

The fire started on 20 February 2021 in Selaya, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 822 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 6th largest in Cantabria since 2016 (of 179 with a page). Number 11 in Spain in 2021, of 120.

We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
822ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
20 Feb 2021 – 20 Feb 2021
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
20 Feb
2021
Danger at start
6
Low · FWI index
Natura 2000
37%
of the perimeter is protected land

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

15°high
117km/h · peak gust
36%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 15.2 mm on 21 Feb.

This area had burned before

60% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 178 ha in 2018, 296 ha in 2019, 395 ha in 2020. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 496 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Selaya 1,868 inhabitants · 5.3 km from the town where it started
    524 ha
    13 %
  2. San Roque de Riomiera 333 inhabitants · 2.9 km from the town
    277 ha
    7.9 %
  3. Vega de Pas 776 inhabitants · 4.6 km from the town
    20 ha
    0.2 %

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 land83 %
  • Broadleaved forest11 %
  • Agricultural areas5.7 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 37 %

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 EGIF (MITECO), 7 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 600 ha (the satellite measured 822 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.

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)
20 Feb 15.4 °C 36 % 117 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
21 Feb after 13.6 °C 30 % 76 km/h 15.2 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 13 Feb 2021
After · 27 Feb 2021

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 21 February 2021 the air beside the fire reached 41 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 23: 1.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak41 µg/m³
Days over the guideline2 days
PM1083 µg/m³
181920212223
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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Spain ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Selaya fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 20 February 2021 and 20 February 2021: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 822 hectares (8.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Selaya (524 ha, 13 %); San Roque de Riomiera (277 ha, 7.9 %); Vega de Pas (20 ha, 0.2 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The closest fire to a town centre came within 2.9 km of San Roque de Riomiera. 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 15.4 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 117 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

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 (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.