The wildfire map of this Thursday places in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, the main active focus of the day. The fire declared in Pinofranqueado has several hamlets evacuated and a large extinction device, although the situation has improved at the border with Castilla y León.
The fire slightly entered the province of Salamanca, but the Junta de Castilla y León has confirmed that this situation is controlled and that there is no active flame in its territory. The map also includes other recent focuses that maintain surveillance work, such as Aldea del Fresno, in Madrid, and the reproduction detected in the perimeter of the fire in La Vall d’Uixó, in Castellón.
Official map of active fires from Copernicus
The European Forest Fire Information System, EFFIS, offers a public viewer to locate fires, heat points, and burned areas in Spain and the rest of Europe.
The map allows observing the perimeters detected by satellite, but the appearance of a heat point does not necessarily mean that there is an active wildfire. To know the official status of each emergency, the autonomous services of 112 and extinction must also be consulted.
Las Hurdes concentrates the main emergency of the map
The fire in Pinofranqueado, in the Cáceres region of Las Hurdes, continues to be the most important focus in Spain this August 20. The fire has activated level 2 of the INFOCAEX Plan and has forced the evacuation of several hamlets while a large device works to contain its evolution.
The complicated orography conditions the extinction work in the sectors that remain active. In the area, means from the Junta de Extremadura, state resources, and personnel from the Military Emergency Unit are still deployed, with the priority placed on protecting the population and consolidating the areas where the fire has been contained.
Salamanca keeps the arrival of the fire controlled
The fire has limitedly crossed into the province of Salamanca, but the latest report from the Junta de Castilla y León confirmed that there is no flame in Castilian and Leonese territory. The means of the INFOCAL operation remain at the provincial border to prevent any new advance.
Moreover, the north wind pushes the fire towards already burned areas, a circumstance that complicates its spread towards Salamanca. The province remains under surveillance, but it should not be considered a new active front with flames within the emergency.
Aldea del Fresno evolves favorably in Madrid
The forest fire declared in Aldea del Fresno, in the Sierra Oeste of Madrid, has left behind the most complicated situation after initially forcing preventive measures to be adopted in the area.
The improvement allowed for the lifting of confinements and the reduction of restrictions for the population. Teams are now maintaining surveillance and finishing work on the perimeter to prevent possible reproductions and complete the stabilization of the fire.
La Vall d’Uixó monitors a reproduction within the perimeter
Firefighters had to intervene again in Castellón after detecting a reproduction of the fire in La Vall d’Uixó in an area of vegetation that had not burned within the perimeter of the original fire.
The rapid action allowed for the containment of the new focus, although the episode requires maintaining vigilance. A controlled fire can register reproductions as long as it has not been declared extinguished, especially when temperature and dryness conditions remain favorable for spread.
Ponteareas reduces the emergency after the fire stabilizes
The fire in the parish of Nogueira, in Ponteareas, shows a favorable evolution after the difficulties recorded during the first hours due to the wind and the appearance of secondary foci.
The fire has stabilized and teams continue to work on the affected surface to consolidate the perimeter. With this evolution, the Galician fire loses weight among the main foci of the day, while Las Hurdes concentrates most of the attention on the national map.
To know the specific situation of a municipality, these sources should be used:
- EFFIS-Copernicus: satellite location, perimeters, and heat points.
- Civil Protection: emergencies and state deployment.
- DGT: closed or affected roads.
- AEMET: daily fire risk level.
- Autonomous services of 112: official status of each fire, evacuations, and confinements.
Search engine: check the fire risk today in your municipality
Enter the name of your municipality in the search engine to know the level of forest fire risk forecasted today according to AEMET. The search engine is updated daily and shows the situation in more than 8,000 Spanish municipalities through the Forest Fire Danger Index (IPIF).
↔ Slide the table sideways to check all the days.
The system classifies the risk into six levels:
- Very low.
- Low.
- Moderate.
- High.
- Very high.
- Extreme.
Each municipality appears classified according to the predominant level expected for that day.
How the fire risk map works
The search engine uses the information published daily by the State Meteorological Agency through its *Forest Fire Danger Index (IPIF).
This system combines different meteorological variables that directly influence the possibility of a forest fire starting and spreading, among them:
- Temperature.
- Relative humidity.
- Wind speed and direction.
- Accumulated precipitation.
- State of vegetation.
With all that data, AEMET prepares a forecast map that allows estimating the level of danger existing at each point of the national territory.
What each risk level means
The index used by AEMET divides the fire risk into six categories:
- Very low* and low indicate that the weather conditions are not favorable for the start of a large fire.
- The moderate level advises taking extreme caution, especially in activities that may generate sparks or flames.
- When the risk becomes high, very high, or extreme, the chances of a fire starting and spreading rapidly increase considerably, especially if episodes of intense wind or very high temperatures coincide.