Yeste fire, July 2017 Yeste, Molinicos
The fire started on 27 July 2017 in Yeste, Spain, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 3,242 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 27 July 2017 at 11:18 and declared extinguished on 9 August 2017.
It is the largest fire in Albacete since 2016 (of 13 with a page). Number 7 in Spain in 2017, of 144.
- Burnt area
- 3,242ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 6days
- 27 Jul 2017 – 1 Aug 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 27 Jul
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 236
- in a single hotspot: 468 MW
- Danger at start
- 41
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 5.0GW
- sum of detected power
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 6 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 2 Aug.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
2,409 ha reached on 27 Jul4.7 %
-
Molinicos 754 inhabitants · 5.2 km from the town842 ha reached on 29 Jul5.9 %
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
- Other natural land62 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland20 %
- Mixed forest7.6 %
- Sclerophyllous scrub3.5 %
- Coniferous forest3.4 %
- Agricultural areas3.2 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 32 %
- ZEPA + LIC Sierra de Alcaraz y Segura y cañones del Segura y del Mundo ES4210008
Natura 2000 sites (European Environment Agency, 2024 release) crossed by the perimeter.
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Official record
According to EGIF (MITECO), this fire started on 27 July 2017 and burned 3,074 ha (the satellite measured 3,242 ha).
- Yeste La Parrilla (Yeste) 27 July 2017 · 11:18 3,074 ha · extinguished on 9 August 2017 · cause: negligence
MITECO, Estadística General de Incendios Forestales (EGIF). This is the agency’s consolidated statistic: it measures the area in its own way, which is why it can differ from the satellite.
Checked against the press
Checked on 30 September 2026We checked this page against 2 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:
- Also known as
- Incendio de Yeste y Molinicos · Incendio de la Sierra del Segura · Incendio de La Parrilla
- Official area reported: 3,200 ha (the satellite measured 3,242 ha)
- Declared extinguished: 9 August 2017
Sources
- Incendio de Yeste: 3.200 hectareas quemadas, 1.211 personas y 7 dias infernales en una olla a presion — En Castilla-La Mancha, 21 September 2017
- Extinguido el incendio de Yeste tras 13 dias y mas de 3.000 hectareas quemadas — eldiario.es Castilla-La Mancha, 10 August 2017
Official figures are measured differently from satellite ones and sometimes cover only part of the fire.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Jul | 34.5 °C | 10 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 28 Jul | 35.7 °C | 10 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 29 Jul | 35.5 °C | 10 % | 33 km/h | 0.5 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 30 Jul | 36.2 °C | 8 % | 44 km/h | 0.1 mm | Extreme 54 |
| 31 Jul | 33.2 °C | 19 % | 44 km/h | 2.0 mm | High 27 |
| 1 Aug | 28.5 °C | 23 % | 52 km/h | 1.2 mm | High 30 |
| 2 Aug after | 30.9 °C | 33 % | 54 km/h | 1.4 mm | Moderate 17 |
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 29 July 2017 the air beside the fire reached 33 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 21: 1.4 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 · 236Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Yeste fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 27 July 2017 and 1 August 2017: 6 days between the first and last image with fire. According to EGIF (MITECO), it was detected on 27 July 2017 at 11:18 and declared extinguished on 9 August 2017.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 3,242 hectares (32.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Yeste (2,409 ha, 4.7 %); Molinicos (842 ha, 5.9 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 5.0 km of Yeste. 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 36.2 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 54, class Extreme.
- 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.
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
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
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 (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.