Ribera d'Ebre Fire

Catalonia, Spain

DATES: 26 JUNE 2019 | SATELLITE: SENTINEL 2 | CATEGORY: FIRES

On 26 June 2019, a fire started in the municipal confines of Torre de l’Espanyol (Ribera d’Ebre county, Tarragona province), sweeping across the region of Terres de l’Ebre, leaving behind the charred remains of hundreds of livestock and more than 5,000 hectares of scorched farmland and forest. The blaze would not be contained until three days later and was finally put out on 7 July. Its rapid spread and impossibility to be stopped by human means placed this fire among the most virulent in Catalonia in the last decade, only behind the enormous 2012 forest fire that took place in Alt Empordà.

The source of ignition can be traced to a manure pile of a poultry farm located in the same municipality. As manure ferments, high temperatures can cause it to self-combust, leading to a fire. However, why it spread has more to do with weather conditions and the land-use model.

On one hand, Terres de l’Ebre is a region whose population has been shrinking over recent decades. This phenomenon, known as rural exodus, has led to the abandon of crop fields that traditionally acted as fire breaks. The spontaneous growth of vegetation in the abandoned fields has been responsible for the growth of the forest mass, which now forms an uninterrupted swath of forest ground across the region.

On the other hand, the dry summers typical of the Mediterranean climate and the high temperatures create an ideal setting for the activation and spread of forest fires. In the case of the Ribera d’Ebre fire, a hot, dry wind caused the fire initially started in the manure pile to spread rapidly, turning it potentially dangerous.

Ribera d’Ebre on June 25th (left) and June 30th (right) 2019. Band combination in natural colour (4-3-2). CC BY 4.0 Sentinel Hub EO Browser.

If we look at the previous satellite image, we see how the combination of natural colour bands cannot distinguish the burnt terrain from the rest of the land. However, if we look at the next image, which combine bands 12-8-4, we can clearly identify the area charred by the fire.

Ribera d’Ebre on June 25th (left) and June 30th (right) 2019. Band combination in false colour (12-8-4). CC BY 4.0 Sentinel Hub EO Browser.

The availability of images without clouds will determine to what extent we can obtain images that allow us to study how the fire evolves from start to finish, including the intermediate phases. In the case of the Ribera d’Ebre fire, we only have satellite images of the day the fire started, and the moment in which it was finally put out. This does not allow us to see how the fire developed and only lets us evaluate the consequences.

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