Vila Verde fire, July 2025 Sande, Vilarinho, Barros e Gomide, Aboim da Nóbrega e Gondomar, Oriz (Santa Marinha) e Oriz (São Miguel)
The fire started on 27 July 2025 in Sande, Vilarinho, Barros e Gomide, Portugal, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 123 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 1 August 2025 at 04:35 and declared extinguished on 2 August 2025.
It is the 13th largest in Vila Verde since 2016 (of 14 with a page). Number 78 in Portugal in 2025, of 85.
The power measured by the satellite is low (25.8 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
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- Burnt area
- 123ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 6days
- 27 Jul 2025 – 1 Aug 2025
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- freguesias
- Started on
- 27 Jul
- 2025
- Heat detections
- 14
- in a single hotspot: 26 MW
- Danger at start
- 22
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 37MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
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
It had gone 11 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
53% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 21 ha in 2016, 42 ha in 2021, 6 ha in 2022, 10 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 65 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
97 ha reached on 28 Jul7.8 %
-
Aboim da Nóbrega e Gondomar 902 inhabitants · 1.2 km from the centre27 ha reached on 27 Jul1.9 %
-
Oriz (Santa Marinha) e Oriz (São Miguel) 509 inhabitants · 1.1 km from the centre0 ha0.0 %
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 land89 %
- Mixed forest5.6 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland3.2 %
- Broadleaved forest1.6 %
- Agricultural areas0.8 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Complex of 2 fires according to ICNF
According to ICNF, 2 fires started inside this perimeter on these dates, totalling 117 ha (the satellite measured 123 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.
- 1 Vila Verde Aboim da Nóbrega 26 July 2025 · 17:54 27 ha · extinguished on 27 July 2025 · cause: arson
- 2 Vila Verde Gomide 1 August 2025 · 04:35 89 ha · extinguished on 2 August 2025 · cause: arson
Total according to ICNF: 117 ha, 95 % of the 123 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Aug | 30.1 °C | 40 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 2 Aug after | 31.5 °C | 39 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 3 Aug after | 33.5 °C | 33 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 4 Aug after | 33.6 °C | 29 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 5 Aug after | 35.0 °C | 29 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 6 Aug after | 29.0 °C | 44 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 7 Aug after | 28.0 °C | 46 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 8 Aug after | 27.9 °C | 55 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 9 Aug after | 30.6 °C | 53 % | 26 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 10 Aug after | 30.2 °C | 40 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 11 Aug after | 30.9 °C | 37 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
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 2 August 2025 the air beside the fire reached 80 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 39: 2.6 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 · 14Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 7,225 haPonte da Barca Entre Ambos-os-Rios, Ermida e GermilJuly 2025 · 11 days · 15 km away
- 6,662 haArcos de Valdevez Soajo8 August 2016 · 9 days · 19 km away
- 9,224 haCabração e Moreira do LimaAugust 2016 · 5 days · 27 km away
- 3,074 haEntrimoSeptember 2016 · 7 days · 28 km away
- 2,156 haVieira do Minho Sobradelo da Goma8 August 2016 · 9 days · 28 km away
- 2,698 haNogueira, Meixedo e Vilar de MurtedaAugust 2016 · 4 days · 30 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Vila Verde fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 27 July 2025 to 1 August 2025 (6 days). The perimeter dates it from 1 August 2025 to 1 August 2025. According to ICNF, the largest of the 2 recorded fires was detected on 1 August 2025 at 04:35 and declared extinguished on 2 August 2025.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 123 hectares (1.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Sande, Vilarinho, Barros e Gomide (97 ha, 7.8 %); Aboim da Nóbrega e Gondomar (27 ha, 1.9 %); Oriz (Santa Marinha) e Oriz (São Miguel) (0 ha, 0.0 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire came within 1.1 km of the centre of Oriz (Santa Marinha) e Oriz (São Miguel), the closest of the areas it touched. That is the distance from the perimeter, or the nearest hotspot, to the point marking the centre; it does not mean it entered the houses.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.1 °C, humidity dropped to 40 % and gusts hit 29 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 22, 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 adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 1 August 2025 to 1 August 2025. 14 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- Compared with ICNF: 117 official ha against 123 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
- 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.