How long did the Vieira do Minho fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 8 August 2016 to 16 August 2016 (9 days). The perimeter dates it from 8 August 2016 to 11 August 2016. According to ICNF, the largest of the 6 recorded fires was detected on 10 August 2016 at 09:46 and declared extinguished on 11 August 2016.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 2,156 hectares (21.6 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 7 municipalities: Monte e Queimadela (598 ha, 29 %); Guilhofrei (438 ha, 39 %); Sobradelo da Goma (377 ha, 37 %); União de Freguesias de Agrela e Serafão (303 ha, 33 %); Aboim, Felgueiras, Gontim e Pedraído (218 ha, 8.1 %); Rossas (216 ha, 6.9 %); Arosa e Castelões (9 ha, 1.6 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The fire started in Sobradelo da Goma 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 34.0 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, class Extreme.

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 · 2016-08-08 → 2016-08-16

Vieira do Minho fire, 8 August 2016 Monte e Queimadela, Guilhofrei, Sobradelo da Goma

Out · last detection 16 Aug 2016, 14:07 UTC

The fire started on 8 August 2016 in Sobradelo da Goma, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 2,156 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 7 municipalities. According to ICNF, the largest of the 6 recorded fires was detected on 10 August 2016 at 09:46 and declared extinguished on 11 August 2016.

It is the largest fire in Póvoa de Lanhoso since 2016 (of 11 with a page). Number 12 in Portugal in 2016, of 180.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Ponte da Barca · 2025 Ribeira de Pena · 2016 Vila Real · 2025 Arcos de Valdevez · 2016

Burnt area: 2,156ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 9days; 8 Aug 2016 – 16 Aug 2016
Municipalities hit: 7; freguesias
Started on: 8 Aug; 2016
Heat detections: 165; in a single hotspot: 313 MW
Danger at start: 46; Very high · FWI index
Average daily power: 1.1GW; detected power per day, on average

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Aug16 Aug

Play back 16 Aug 2016

How it evolved, day by day

9 Aug 10 Aug 11 Aug 13 Aug 16 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

53km/h · peak gust

17%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.6 mm on 19 Aug.

This area had burned before

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

How big is it?

It burned the equivalent of 1.4% of the area of London (22 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

Monte e Queimadela 659 inhabitants · 1.2 km from the centre

598 ha reached on 10 Aug

29 %
Guilhofrei 898 inhabitants · fire reached the centre

438 ha reached on 10 Aug

39 %
Sobradelo da Goma 695 inhabitants · fire reached the centre where it started

377 ha reached on 9 Aug

37 %
União de Freguesias de Agrela e Serafão 1,208 inhabitants · fire reached the centre

303 ha reached on 9 Aug

33 %
Aboim, Felgueiras, Gontim e Pedraído 773 inhabitants · 1.3 km from the centre

218 ha reached on 9 Aug

8.1 %
Rossas 4.1 km from the centre

216 ha reached on 10 Aug

6.9 %
Arosa e Castelões 699 inhabitants · 1.5 km from the centre

9 ha reached on 9 Aug

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

Other natural land60 %
Scrub and transitional woodland28 %
Mixed forest5.7 %
Agricultural areas4.1 %
Broadleaved forest2.2 %

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

Official record

Complex of 6 fires according to ICNF

According to ICNF, 6 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 2,040 ha (the satellite measured 2,156 ha).

ICNF records each fire that started at a different time or place separately; the satellite sees a single burned area, so this page groups them together. The numbers on the map show where each one started.

When each one burned

1 25 ha 2 115 ha 3 1,839 ha 4 6 ha 5 39 ha 6 16 ha

8 Aug16 Aug

cause unknown or not published arson

1 Fafe Gontim 8 August 2016 · 17:37 25 ha · extinguished on 9 August 2016 · cause: unknown
2 Póvoa de Lanhoso Sobradelo da Goma 9 August 2016 · 00:44 115 ha · extinguished on 10 August 2016 · cause: arson
3 Vieira do Minho Rossas 10 August 2016 · 09:46 1,839 ha · extinguished on 11 August 2016 · cause: unknown
4 Fafe Felgueiras 13 August 2016 · 15:14 6 ha · extinguished on 13 August 2016
5 Fafe Felgueiras 14 August 2016 · 02:09 39 ha · extinguished on 14 August 2016 · cause: unknown
6 Fafe Felgueiras 15 August 2016 · 21:58 16 ha · extinguished on 16 August 2016 · cause: arson

Total according to ICNF: 2,040 ha, 95 % of the 2,156 ha in the satellite perimeter.

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)
8 Aug	34.0 °C	21 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 46
9 Aug	29.5 °C	29 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
10 Aug	28.0 °C	17 %	53 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 55
11 Aug	28.3 °C	21 %	51 km/h	0.0 mm	Extreme 57
12 Aug	29.8 °C	24 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	Very high 39
13 Aug	29.3 °C	21 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 36
14 Aug	28.1 °C	34 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
15 Aug	25.8 °C	44 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
16 Aug	22.3 °C	45 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
17 Aug after	20.9 °C	64 %	32 km/h	0.7 mm	Moderate 16
18 Aug after	24.2 °C	36 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
19 Aug after	18.5 °C	67 %	27 km/h	4.6 mm	Very low 1

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 1 Aug 2016

After · 23 Aug 2016

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 13 August 2016 the air beside the fire reached 54 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 39: 2.6 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak54 µg/m³

Days over the guideline8 days

PM1068 µg/m³

WHO 15

678910111213141516171819

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 · 165Every 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

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Frequently asked questions

How long did the Vieira do Minho fire last?: According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 8 August 2016 to 16 August 2016 (9 days). The perimeter dates it from 8 August 2016 to 11 August 2016. According to ICNF, the largest of the 6 recorded fires was detected on 10 August 2016 at 09:46 and declared extinguished on 11 August 2016.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 2,156 hectares (21.6 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 7 municipalities: Monte e Queimadela (598 ha, 29 %); Guilhofrei (438 ha, 39 %); Sobradelo da Goma (377 ha, 37 %); União de Freguesias de Agrela e Serafão (303 ha, 33 %); Aboim, Felgueiras, Gontim e Pedraído (218 ha, 8.1 %); Rossas (216 ha, 6.9 %); Arosa e Castelões (9 ha, 1.6 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The fire started in Sobradelo da Goma 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 34.0 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, class Extreme.
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

NASA FIRMS ↗
EFFIS · Copernicus ↗

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.

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What do you think is wrong?

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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.

How we know this

Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 8 August 2016 to 11 August 2016. 165 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with ICNF: 2,040 official ha against 2,156 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
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.

Where it burned