How long did the Vila Verde fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 29 August 2016 and 30 August 2016: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 29 August 2016 at 15:47 and declared extinguished on 30 August 2016.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 329 hectares (3.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 4 municipalities: Pico de Regalados, Gondiães e Mós (294 ha, 31 %); Dossãos (21 ha, 6.2 %); Prado (São Miguel) (15 ha, 2.8 %); Ribeira do Neiva (0 ha, 0.0 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Pico de Regalados, Gondiães e Mós. 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 27.7 °C, humidity dropped to 34 % and gusts hit 33 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.

PT · Portugal · 2016-08-29 → 2016-08-30

Vila Verde fire, 29 August 2016 Pico de Regalados, Gondiães e Mós, Dossãos, Prado (São Miguel)

Out · last detection 30 Aug 2016, 03:21 UTC

The fire started on 29 August 2016 in Pico de Regalados, Gondiães e Mós, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 329 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 4 municipalities. According to ICNF, it was detected on 29 August 2016 at 15:47 and declared extinguished on 30 August 2016.

It is the largest fire in Vila Verde since 2016 (of 15 with a page). Number 80 in Portugal in 2016, of 179.

Burnt area: 329ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 2days; 29 Aug 2016 – 30 Aug 2016
Municipalities hit: 4; freguesias
Started on: 29 Aug; 2016
Heat detections: 20; in a single hotspot: 85 MW
Danger at start: 23; High · FWI index
Energy released: 247MW; sum of detected power

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 29 Aug30 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

28°high

33km/h · peak gust

34%lowest humidity

It had gone 4 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

Pico de Regalados, Gondiães e Mós 1,553 inhabitants · 0.0 km from the town where it started

294 ha reached on 30 Aug

31 %
Dossãos 424 inhabitants · 0.7 km from the town

21 ha reached on 30 Aug

6.2 %
Prado (São Miguel) 653 inhabitants · 0.4 km from the town

15 ha

2.8 %
Ribeira do Neiva 3,360 inhabitants · 2.8 km from the town

0 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 woodland59 %
Other natural land40 %
Agricultural areas0.9 %

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

Official record

According to ICNF, this fire started on 29 August 2016 and burned 365 ha (the satellite measured 329 ha).

Vila Verde Mós 29 August 2016 · 15:47 365 ha · extinguished on 30 August 2016 · 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	Danger (FWI)
29 Aug	27.7 °C	34 %	33 km/h	High 23
30 Aug	26.3 °C	41 %	32 km/h	High 23
31 Aug after	28.5 °C	46 %	32 km/h	High 24
1 Sept after	29.4 °C	41 %	28 km/h	High 22
2 Sept after	29.4 °C	45 %	24 km/h	Moderate 21
3 Sept after	29.7 °C	40 %	27 km/h	High 23
4 Sept after	30.1 °C	35 %	27 km/h	High 23
5 Sept after	30.0 °C	33 %	26 km/h	High 25
6 Sept after	35.0 °C	29 %	37 km/h	High 30
7 Sept after	25.8 °C	50 %	39 km/h	High 26
8 Sept after	23.5 °C	46 %	48 km/h	High 27
9 Sept after	24.1 °C	39 %	38 km/h	High 25

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 22 Aug 2016

After · 6 Sept 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 2 September 2016 the air beside the fire reached 23 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 18: 1.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak23 µg/m³

Days over the guideline2 days

PM1039 µg/m³

WHO 15

272829303112

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 · 20Every 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 Vila Verde fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 29 August 2016 and 30 August 2016: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to ICNF, it was detected on 29 August 2016 at 15:47 and declared extinguished on 30 August 2016.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 329 hectares (3.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 4 municipalities: Pico de Regalados, Gondiães e Mós (294 ha, 31 %); Dossãos (21 ha, 6.2 %); Prado (São Miguel) (15 ha, 2.8 %); Ribeira do Neiva (0 ha, 0.0 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.0 km of Pico de Regalados, Gondiães e Mós. 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 27.7 °C, humidity dropped to 34 % and gusts hit 33 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

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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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