Villarrasa fire, July 2021
Villarrasa, Niebla, La Palma del Condado
Out · last detection 25 Jul 2021, 02:19 UTC
The fire started on 24 July 2021 in Villarrasa, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 816 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 24 July 2021 at 14:29 and declared extinguished on 28 July 2021.
It is the 13th largest in Huelva since 2016 (of 36 with a page). Number 12 in Spain in 2021, of 120.
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings ›
Weather during the fire
model
34.8°C · 17% RH
High of 34.8 °C and minimum humidity of 17% on 24 July 2021; gusts of 41 km/h on 25 July 2021.
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
ⓘThis page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official EGIF (MITECO) record
Matches: 787 ha in the official record (records: 1).
A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
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.
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)
24 Jul
34.8 °C
17 %
33 km/h
0.0 mm
High 37
25 Jul
32.5 °C
36 %
41 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 45
26 Jul after
32.6 °C
32 %
34 km/h
0.0 mm
High 28
27 Jul after
34.5 °C
32 %
22 km/h
0.0 mm
High 30
28 Jul after
35.4 °C
28 %
31 km/h
0.0 mm
High 30
29 Jul after
34.1 °C
37 %
32 km/h
0.0 mm
High 36
30 Jul after
34.9 °C
20 %
35 km/h
0.0 mm
High 37
31 Jul after
29.5 °C
26 %
42 km/h
0.0 mm
Extreme 52
1 Aug after
30.2 °C
22 %
34 km/h
0.0 mm
High 34
2 Aug after
31.3 °C
32 %
34 km/h
0.0 mm
High 29
3 Aug after
33.3 °C
32 %
36 km/h
0.0 mm
High 32
4 Aug after
35.2 °C
28 %
32 km/h
0.0 mm
High 33
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 37.4, a minimum humidity of 17% and 35 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 50.
FWI at the start37.4
Minimum humidity17 %
Days without rain35
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Villarrasa fire, July 2021
816 ha2 daysFWI 37.4Min. humidity 17 %
Salorino fire, August 2020
413 ha1 dayFWI 38.7Min. humidity 17 %231 km away, in 2020
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
It was 2.6 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 2 days, against 1 day.
Only 11 of its 50 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 40 of 50, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.4 mm.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
—first rain
—no rain in ten days
41km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 25 Jul, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 10 of 50, with a median of 1.4 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 17 Jul 2021
After · 1 Aug 2021
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 22 July 2021 the air beside the fire reached 14 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak14µg/m³
Days over the guideline0days
PM1035µg/m³
22 Jul24 Jul26 Jul28 Jul
GoodFairModeratePoorVery poorExtremely 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· 19Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.›
⬇ Download CSVTimes in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Copernicus dates it between 24 July 2021 and 25 July 2021: 2 days between the first and last image with fire. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 24 July 2021 at 14:29 and declared extinguished on 28 July 2021.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 816 hectares (8.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Villarrasa (593 ha, 8.2 %); Niebla (212 ha, 0.9 %); La Palma del Condado (13 ha, 0.2 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire came within 6.2 km of the centre of La Palma del Condado, 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 34.8 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Spain (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 50. Their median duration was 1 day and their median area 316 ha; 12 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 11 of its 50 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 40 of 50, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.4 mm.
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.
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 errorHow we know this›
Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 19 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with EGIF (MITECO): 787 official ha against 816 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
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 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.