Skip to content
worldfires
en
PT · Portugal · →

Serra da Estrela fire, August 2022 Folgosinho, Verdelhos, Sameiro

Out · last detection 23 Aug 2022, 13:54 UTC

The fire started on 6 August 2022 in Sameiro, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 18 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 25,260 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 20 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 6 August 2022 at 03:18 and declared extinguished on 2 September 2022.

The largest in Portugal in 2022, of 107.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Seia · 2017Guarda · 2017Manteigas · 2016Manteigas (Santa Maria) · 2019

Burnt area
25,260ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
18days
6 Aug 2022 – 23 Aug 2022
Municipalities hit
20
freguesias
Started on
6 Aug
2022
Heat detections
733
in a single hotspot: 363 MW
Danger at start
39
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
2.4GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Aug23 Aug
23 Aug 2022

How it evolved, day by day

11 Aug 2022 · 13,081 MW · 327 12 Aug 2022 · 293 MW · 54 14 Aug 2022 · 32 MW · 4 16 Aug 2022 · 7,792 MW · 319 17 Aug 2022 · 52 MW · 20 18 Aug 2022 · 2 MW · 2 19 Aug 2022 · 7 MW · 4 21 Aug 2022 · 12 MW · 2 23 Aug 2022 · 6 MW · 1
11 Aug 14 Aug 17 Aug 19 Aug 23 Aug

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
54km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 22 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 24 Aug.

This area had burned before

12% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 216 ha in 2016, 2,459 ha in 2017, 235 ha in 2019, 40 ha in 2020, 84 ha in 2021.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 16% of the area of London (253 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Folgosinho 442 inhabitants · 0.6 km from the centre
    3,288 ha reached on 11 Aug
    63 %
  2. Verdelhos 500 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    2,916 ha reached on 16 Aug
    79 %
  3. Sameiro 274 inhabitants · fire reached the centre where it started
    2,155 ha reached on 11 Aug
    97 %
  4. Valhelhas 303 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    1,940 ha reached on 16 Aug
    96 %
  5. Videmonte 388 inhabitants · 2.5 km from the centre
    1,906 ha reached on 11 Aug
    35 %
  6. Manteigas (São Pedro) 1,174 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    1,810 ha
    30 %
  7. Gonçalo 960 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    1,537 ha reached on 16 Aug
    57 %
  8. Vale da Amoreira 208 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    1,536 ha reached on 11 Aug
    92 %
  9. Famalicão fire reached the centre
    1,493 ha reached on 16 Aug
    93 %
  10. Fernão Joanes 186 inhabitants · 1.7 km from the centre
    1,456 ha reached on 12 Aug
    58 %
  11. União das freguesias de Teixoso e Sarzedo
    951 ha reached on 16 Aug
    20 %
  12. Vale Formoso e Aldeia do Souto 616 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    872 ha reached on 16 Aug
    46 %
  13. Manteigas (Santa Maria) 1,253 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    741 ha reached on 11 Aug
    33 %
  14. Orjais 3,876 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    705 ha reached on 16 Aug
    37 %
  15. Linhares 213 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    671 ha reached on 11 Aug
    43 %
  16. Figueiró da Serra e Freixo da Serra 377 inhabitants · fire reached the centre
    617 ha reached on 11 Aug
    49 %
  17. União das Freguesias de Cantar-Galo e Vila do Carvalho 2,233 inhabitants · 0.9 km from the centre
    413 ha reached on 23 Aug
    26 %
  18. União das Freguesias de Belmonte e Colmeal da Torre 3,183 inhabitants · 1.6 km from the centre
    250 ha reached on 16 Aug
    6.5 %
  19. Cortes do Meio 746 inhabitants · 6.6 km from the centre
    26 ha
    0.6 %
  20. Gouveia 3,151 inhabitants · 27.0 km from the centre
    1 ha reached on 11 Aug
    0.0 %

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

  • Scrub and transitional woodland34 %
  • Other natural land27 %
  • Agricultural areas16 %
  • Coniferous forest13 %
  • Mixed forest6.2 %
  • Broadleaved forest3.1 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 100 %

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 6 August 2022 and burned 24,333 ha (the satellite measured 25,260 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 29 September 2026

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

Also known as
Incêndio de Garrocho · Fogo da Serra da Estrela · Incêndio Covilhã-Manteigas
Official area reported: 24,000 ha (the satellite measured 25,260 ha)
Declared under control (not yet extinguished): 17 August 2022

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)
6 Aug 30.8 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
7 Aug 31.3 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
8 Aug 31.7 °C 24 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
9 Aug 32.0 °C 26 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
10 Aug 31.1 °C 32 % 49 km/h 1.2 mm High 26
11 Aug 30.7 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
12 Aug 30.8 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
13 Aug 27.9 °C 23 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Aug 25.9 °C 31 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
15 Aug 26.6 °C 28 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
16 Aug 22.0 °C 39 % 54 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
17 Aug 23.4 °C 34 % 39 km/h 0.1 mm High 33
18 Aug 27.3 °C 18 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
19 Aug 30.8 °C 15 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
20 Aug 32.5 °C 18 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
21 Aug 30.1 °C 28 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
22 Aug 32.7 °C 23 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
23 Aug 33.9 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
24 Aug after 29.8 °C 34 % 36 km/h 1.0 mm High 28

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 30 Jul 2022
After · 30 Aug 2022

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 12 August 2022 the air beside the fire reached 89 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 40: 2.7 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak89 µg/m³
Days over the guideline4 days
PM10104 µg/m³
Optical depth1.36
456789101112131415161718192021222324
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 · 733Every 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 Serra da Estrela fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 6 August 2022 to 23 August 2022 (18 days). The perimeter dates it from 6 August 2022 to 21 August 2022. According to ICNF, it was detected on 6 August 2022 at 03:18 and declared extinguished on 2 September 2022.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 25,260 hectares (252.6 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 20 municipalities: Folgosinho (3,288 ha, 63 %); Verdelhos (2,916 ha, 79 %); Sameiro (2,155 ha, 97 %); Valhelhas (1,940 ha, 96 %); Videmonte (1,906 ha, 35 %); Manteigas (São Pedro) (1,810 ha, 30 %); Gonçalo (1,537 ha, 57 %); Vale da Amoreira (1,536 ha, 92 %); Famalicão (1,493 ha, 93 %); Fernão Joanes (1,456 ha, 58 %); União das freguesias de Teixoso e Sarzedo (951 ha, 20 %); Vale Formoso e Aldeia do Souto (872 ha, 46 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Sameiro and reached its centre: the point marking it was inside the burnt area or less than 500 metres from it. That does not mean houses burned.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.9 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % 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 · 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.

RSS Changes to this page

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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 6 August 2022 to 21 August 2022. 733 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • Compared with ICNF: 24,333 official ha against 25,260 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.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.