Fires in Spain and Portugal
Fires in Spain and Portugal
12August 2006
In northwestern Spain and Portugal dozens of fires were still racing through dryforests on 11 August 2006. The fires have claimed three lives in Galicia, andseven in neighbouring Portugal so far. A voluntary firefighter has been arrestedon suspicion of starting several fires. The mayor of Pontevedra is among thosewho believe a criminal gang is responsible. The Spanish army is workingalongside the 7,000 firefighters battling the flames. Madrid has asked theEuropean Union for assistance.
AQUA
11 August 2006 
This image of the area was captured by theModerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)on NASAs Aqua satellite on 11 August 2006. Places where MODIS detected actively burning firesare marked in red. Thick smoke spreads out in a gray-brown plume to the west.
The high-resolution images provided above have a spatial resolution of 250 meters perpixel.
See also following articles
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El número de incendios forestales en España se reduce a la mitad (published by www.eldiariomontanes.es, 12 August 2006)
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Forest fires damage Stone Age paintings, carvings (published by www.dfw.com, 12 August 2006)
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Portugal to increase fire aid to Spain (published by euronews.net, 12 August 2006)
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Arson suspected in Spanish forest fires – reports (published by news.monstersandcritics.com, 12 August 2006)
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Criminal gangs suspected in Spanish fires (published by euronews.net, 12 August 2006)
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More detained as forest fire spreads in Galicia (published by www.thepeninsulaqatar.com, 12 August 2006)
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Firefighter arrested over arson (published by www.news.com.au, 11 August 2006)
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Les incendies de forêt font une septième victime au Portugal (published by permanent.nouvelobs.com, 11 August 2006)
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European Countries Help Fight Spain’s Forest Fires (published by www.dw-world.de, 11 August 2006)
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Spain sends army engineers to tackle fires (published by www.int.iol.co.za, 11 August 2006)
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Los incendios forestales siguen azotando Portugal (published by nuevo.diariomalaga.com, 11 August 2006)
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Spreading fires in Spain sends vacationers fleeing (published by news.monstersandcritics.com, 11 August 2006)
See also:
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Heatwave in Western Europe (source: Earth Observatory)
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI):
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Terra satellite enhanced the image from 11 August 2006 by including the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) which is strongly correlated to surface temperatures and surface moisture status.
ECPC Fire Weather Forecast:
The GFMC displays selected and daily updated Experimental Climate Prediction Center (ECPC) Fire Weather Forecasts for Europe. These examples allow a quicklook and provide daily and weekly total forecasts. For background information refer to the ECPC products description page.
FWI forecast for the next 60 hrs
FWI forecast for the next week
Surface temperatures forecast for the next week
Precipitation amount forecast for the next week
Relative humidity forecast for the next week
Windspeed forecast for the next week
(Source: ECPC Fire Weather Index Forecast)
The forecast indicates no extreme fire danger for Galicia. The current fire danger, however, is due to unusually high day temperatures, low precipitation and low relative humidity
Formore details on fires in Spain:
- Statistical database for Spain
