How long did the Valença fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 21 August 2024 and 21 August 2024: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 20 August 2024 at 20:19 and declared extinguished on 21 August 2024.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 383 hectares (3.8 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 3 municipalities: União das Freguesias de Gandra e Taião (264 ha, 13 %); Cerdal (116 ha, 6.2 %); Gondomil e Safins (3 ha, 0.2 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.4 km of Cerdal. 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 28.8 °C, humidity dropped to 48 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 18, class Moderate.

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.

PT · Portugal · 2024-08-21 → 2024-08-21

Valença fire, August 2024 União das Freguesias de Gandra e Taião, Cerdal, Gondomil e Safins

Out · last detection 21 Aug 2024, 12:45 UTC

The fire started on 21 August 2024 in União das Freguesias de Gandra e Taião, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 383 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 20 August 2024 at 20:19 and declared extinguished on 21 August 2024.

Number 41 in Portugal in 2024, of 69.

The power measured by the satellite is low (13.1 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area: 383ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 1day; 21 Aug 2024 – 21 Aug 2024
Municipalities hit: 3; freguesias
Started on: 21 Aug; 2024
Heat detections: 21; in a single hotspot: 13 MW
Danger at start: 18; Moderate · FWI index
Energy released: 152MW; sum of detected power

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Aug21 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

29°high

36km/h · peak gust

48%lowest humidity

It had gone 22 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 24 Aug.

This area had burned before

56% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 49 ha in 2016, 15 ha in 2017, 21 ha in 2019, 111 ha in 2020, 74 ha in 2021, 1 ha in 2022, 8 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 216 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

União das Freguesias de Gandra e Taião 1,391 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the town where it started

264 ha reached on 21 Aug

13 %
Cerdal 1,550 inhabitants · 1.4 km from the town

116 ha reached on 21 Aug

6.2 %
Gondomil e Safins 418 inhabitants · 2.1 km from the town

3 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

Scrub and transitional woodland56 %
Other natural land20 %
Broadleaved forest18 %
Mixed forest4.2 %
Agricultural areas1.6 %

Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 20 August 2024 and burned 388 ha (the satellite measured 383 ha).

Valença Taião 20 August 2024 · 20:19 388 ha · extinguished on 21 August 2024 · cause: arson

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)
21 Aug	28.8 °C	48 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
22 Aug after	24.3 °C	59 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
23 Aug after	25.5 °C	65 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 15
24 Aug after	22.4 °C	58 %	41 km/h	1.1 mm	Low 10

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 14 Aug 2024

After · 28 Aug 2024

Before After

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 23 August 2024 the air beside the fire reached 34 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 15: 1.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak34 µg/m³

Days over the guideline1 day

PM1046 µg/m³

Optical depth0.26

WHO 15

192021222324

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 · 21Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Portugal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Valença fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 21 August 2024 and 21 August 2024: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 20 August 2024 at 20:19 and declared extinguished on 21 August 2024.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 383 hectares (3.8 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 3 municipalities: União das Freguesias de Gandra e Taião (264 ha, 13 %); Cerdal (116 ha, 6.2 %); Gondomil e Safins (3 ha, 0.2 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.4 km of Cerdal. 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 28.8 °C, humidity dropped to 48 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 18, class Moderate.
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

NASA FIRMS ↗
EFFIS · Copernicus ↗

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.

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What really happened?

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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.

Where it burned