How long did the Valongo fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 16 October 2017 and 16 October 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 15 October 2017 at 15:30 and declared extinguished on 16 October 2017.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 375 hectares (3.8 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 4 municipalities: Valongo (216 ha, 9.0 %); Água Longa (121 ha, 9.5 %); Alfena (36 ha, 3.3 %); União das Freguesias de Campo e Sobrado (1 ha, 0.0 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.7 km of Alfena. 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 21.8 °C, humidity dropped to 60 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 2, class Very low.

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 · 2017-10-16 → 2017-10-16

Valongo fire, 16 October 2017 Valongo, Água Longa, Alfena

Out · last measured on 16 Oct 2017

The fire started on 16 October 2017 in Valongo, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 375 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 4 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 15 October 2017 at 15:30 and declared extinguished on 16 October 2017.

Number 107 in Portugal in 2017, of 210.

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: 375ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 1day; 16 Oct 2017 – 16 Oct 2017
Municipalities hit: 4; freguesias
Started on: 16 Oct; 2017
Danger at start: 2; Very low · FWI index

The weather it burned in

22°high

42km/h · peak gust

60%lowest humidity

It had gone 21 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 23.4 mm on 17 Oct.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

Valongo 25,883 inhabitants · 3.4 km from the town

216 ha

9.0 %
Água Longa 2,342 inhabitants · 1.0 km from the town

121 ha

9.5 %
Alfena 14,439 inhabitants · 0.7 km from the town where it started

36 ha

3.3 %
União das Freguesias de Campo e Sobrado 6,727 inhabitants · 4.2 km from the town

1 ha

0.0 %

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 woodland79 %
Artificial surfaces16 %
Other natural land5.8 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 15 October 2017 and burned 464 ha (the satellite measured 375 ha).

Valongo Alfena 15 October 2017 · 15:30 464 ha · extinguished on 16 October 2017 · cause: unknown

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)
16 Oct	21.8 °C	60 %	42 km/h	7.3 mm	Very low 2
17 Oct after	19.1 °C	58 %	39 km/h	23.4 mm	Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 9 Oct 2017

After · 23 Oct 2017

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 15 October 2017 the air beside the fire reached 58 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 29: 2.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak58 µg/m³

Days over the guideline3 days

PM1088 µg/m³

WHO 15

141516171819

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 Portugal ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Valongo fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 16 October 2017 and 16 October 2017: 1 day between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 15 October 2017 at 15:30 and declared extinguished on 16 October 2017.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 375 hectares (3.8 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 4 municipalities: Valongo (216 ha, 9.0 %); Água Longa (121 ha, 9.5 %); Alfena (36 ha, 3.3 %); União das Freguesias de Campo e Sobrado (1 ha, 0.0 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.7 km of Alfena. 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 21.8 °C, humidity dropped to 60 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 2, class Very low.
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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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 (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