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ES · Spain ·

Serradilla del Llano fire, August 2016 Serradilla del Llano, Zamarra, La Atalaya

Out · last measured on 11 Aug 2016

The fire started on 11 August 2016 in Serradilla del Llano, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 308 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 10 August 2016 at 19:50 and declared extinguished on 12 August 2016.

It is the 8th largest in Salamanca since 2016 (of 16 with a page). Number 38 in Spain in 2016, of 69.

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
308ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
11 Aug 2016 – 11 Aug 2016
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
11 Aug
2016
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Natura 2000
3%
of the perimeter is protected land

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

28°high
45km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone 34 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Serradilla del Llano where it started
    222 ha
    3.3 %
  2. 48 ha
    1.0 %
  3. La Atalaya 102 inhabitants · 2.9 km from the centre
    39 ha
    1.6 %

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

  • Sclerophyllous scrub62 %
  • Agricultural areas20 %
  • Other natural land14 %
  • Scrub and transitional woodland3.9 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 3 %

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.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2015
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2015, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

Official record

According to EGIF (MITECO), this fire started on 10 August 2016 and burned 285 ha (the satellite measured 308 ha).

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)
11 Aug 28.5 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
12 Aug after 30.7 °C 21 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
13 Aug after 31.9 °C 26 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
14 Aug after 32.0 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
15 Aug after 31.2 °C 23 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
16 Aug after 30.3 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
17 Aug after 29.0 °C 35 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
18 Aug after 30.0 °C 26 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
19 Aug after 27.4 °C 48 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
20 Aug after 26.7 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
21 Aug after 30.8 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 32.2, a minimum humidity of 22% and 34 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 49.

FWI at the start 32.2
Minimum humidity 22 %
Days without rain 34
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Pinhel fire, June 2021
356 ha 3 days FWI 32.4 Min. humidity 22 % 65 km away, in 2021

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 3.8 mm on 12 Jun.

What happened to them

2 days
median duration
359 ha
median area
22 %
went past 1,000 ha
3.8 mm
rain at the end (median; 31 of 49 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (308 ha against a median of 359 ha) and lasted 1 day, against 2 days.

In 18 of 49, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.8 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
45km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 11 Aug, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 31 of 49, with a median of 3.8 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 4 Aug 2016
After · 18 Aug 2016

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Other fires nearby

All fires in Spain

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Serradilla del Llano fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 11 August 2016 and 11 August 2016: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 10 August 2016 at 19:50 and declared extinguished on 12 August 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 308 hectares (3.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Serradilla del Llano (222 ha, 3.3 %); Zamarra (48 ha, 1.0 %); La Atalaya (39 ha, 1.6 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire came within 2.9 km of the centre of La Atalaya, the closest of the areas it touched. 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 28.5 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, class High.
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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 49. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 359 ha; 22 % went past 1,000 ha. In 18 of 49, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.8 mm.

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.

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
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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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. No Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • Compared with EGIF (MITECO): 285 official ha against 308 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2015, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

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 (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.