Torre de Moncorvo fire, September 2016 Lousa
The fire started on 24 September 2016 in Lousa, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 241 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 10th largest in Torre de Moncorvo since 2016 (of 14 with a page). Number 97 in Portugal in 2016, of 180.
The power measured by the satellite is low (2.7 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
Compare with…
- Burnt area
- 241ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 24 Sept 2016 – 24 Sept 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- freguesias
- Started on
- 24 Sept
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 1
- in a single hotspot: 3 MW
- Danger at start
- 23
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 3MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
24 Sept 2016 · 3 MW · 1
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 25 Sept.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
241 ha reached on 24 Sept7.1 %
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 woodland57 %
- Agricultural areas38 %
- Mixed forest4.6 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Official record
According to ICNF, this fire started on 23 September 2016 and burned 329 ha (the satellite measured 241 ha). The two figures differ a lot, so these may not be exactly the same fire: take them as nearby records.
- Torre de Moncorvo Lousa 23 September 2016 · 22:26 329 ha · extinguished on 24 September 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Sept | 26.1 °C | 32 % | 36 km/h | 0.6 mm | High 23 |
| 25 Sept after | 21.9 °C | 37 % | 27 km/h | 1.3 mm | Low 10 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · CopernicusOn 22 September 2016 the air beside the fire reached 19 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 15: 1.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 1Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 3,403 haTorre de Moncorvo Vilarinho da CastanheiraAugust 2026 · 4 days · 3 km away
- 5,710 haFreixo de Espada à Cinta LigaresAugust 2017 · 2 days · 26 km away
- 5,163 haMirandela FrechasAugust 2025 · 3 days · 26 km away
- 5,597 haAlijó Vila ChãJuly 2017 · 3 days · 27 km away
- 11,932 haFreixo de Espada à Cinta CarviçaisAugust 2025 · 4 days · 32 km away
- 5,971 haFreixo de Espada à Cinta União das Freguesias de Lagoaça e FornosSeptember 2016 · 3 days · 39 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Torre de Moncorvo fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 24 September 2016 and 24 September 2016: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 241 hectares (2.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Lousa (241 ha, 7.1 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire started in Lousa 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 26.1 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 23, class 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 ›
- ICNF · Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas ↗
- ANEPC · Proteção Civil ↗
- Fogos.pt (ocorrências em tempo real) ↗
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.
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. One Suomi-NPP VIIRS detection on those dates.
- Compared with ICNF: 329 official ha against 241 ha of perimeter; similar, but with reservations.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
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.