Wildfire risk in Spain today

Fire danger map - Spain

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Low (<5) Moderate (5-12) High (12-21) Very high (21-38) Extreme (>38)

What activities can I do in my area today

Tick the activities you were planning and we will cross-check each against the current fire risk index of your area. Search your city above first.

Outdoor barbecue In a designated picnic area, with water and an extinguisher nearby. Campfire or bonfire For camping, warmth or cooking outside designated areas. Burning crop stubble or vegetal waste Traditional agricultural burns on private plots. Welding, grinder or spark-producing work outdoors Fence repair, field machinery, metalwork in open air. Throwing a cigarette butt Including from a car or roadside. Launching fireworks Rockets, firecrackers or flares. Chainsaw or brush-cutter use In woodland or dry-grass terrain. Driving along a forest track A hot catalyst can ignite dry grass.

Recommendation for your area

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Agricultural burns, campfires and fireworks are regulated by each autonomous community's forest legislation and by municipal bylaws. Always check the regional "high danger season" declaration and the local town hall notice before any activity involving fire.

What is the Fire Weather Index (FWI)

The Fire Weather Index (FWI) is a numerical system developed by the Canadian Forest Service in 1970 and adopted by the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) and civil protection services across most of Europe, Spain included. It combines air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and rainfall accumulated over the previous 24 hours with the moisture stored in forest fuels to produce a dimensionless number that estimates how easy it would be to ignite and spread a wildfire under average vegetation conditions.

FWI does not predict whether a fire will happen: it measures how strongly weather and fuel state would help any spark (a firework, a cigarette, a welding bead, a lightning strike) to become a hard-to-control blaze. A very high FWI can coincide with a day without fires if nobody starts one; a low value does not guarantee safety when fire-use practices are reckless.

Official EFFIS / Civil Protection scale

Level	FWI	Colour	Practical meaning
Low	< 5	Green	Fire ignites with difficulty and spreads slowly. Routine vigilance.
Moderate	5 - 12	Yellow	Easy ignition but controllable spread. Avoid spark-producing activities.
High	12 - 21	Orange	Fast surface spread. Burns and barbecues are restricted.
Very high	21 - 38	Red	Extreme behaviour, crown fires likely. General fire ban.
Extreme	> 38	Magenta	Seventh-generation wildfires possible. Any ignition is critical.

Level

FWI

Colour

Practical meaning

Low

< 5

Green

Fire ignites with difficulty and spreads slowly. Routine vigilance.

Moderate

5 - 12

Yellow

Easy ignition but controllable spread. Avoid spark-producing activities.

High

12 - 21

Orange

Fast surface spread. Burns and barbecues are restricted.

Very high

21 - 38

Red

Extreme behaviour, crown fires likely. General fire ban.

Extreme

> 38

Magenta

Seventh-generation wildfires possible. Any ignition is critical.

What to avoid at each level

Green / Yellow: inspect mechanical tools, never throw cigarettes and respect designated barbecue areas.

Orange: suspend agricultural burns, do not light fires outside picnic areas, avoid outdoor welding and grinder work over dry vegetation.

Red: all fire prohibited in woodland and the wildland-urban interface. Restrict access to forest tracks and stop spark-producing machinery work.

Magenta (extreme): activate the regional wildfire emergency plan. Close campsites and picnic areas and reinforce surveillance with aerial means.

General Civil Protection guidance

If you live in a housing area near woodland, keep a 25-50 m perimeter strip clear of dry vegetation and combustible accumulation.

Have a family self-protection plan: evacuation routes, meeting point and emergency bag (water, FFP2 masks, torch, documents).

Never go back for belongings once evacuation has started.

If you are caught outdoors by fire, look for already-burnt ground, bare soil or a large body of water and keep your head low.

To report smoke columns or starting fires, call 112. Provide location, wind direction and visible references.

WhatAWeather complements the FWI map with a full set of professional weather layers (animated wind, temperature, humidity and lightning) and with hydrological tools to assess vegetation state during the dry season, especially the Thornthwaite water balance which highlights the cumulative soil deficit and, by extension, the state of live and dead fuels.

Methodological note. Open-Meteo does not directly expose the Canadian FWI or its sub-indices (DMC, DC, ISI, BUI) through its public API. This page therefore uses a simplified Wildfire Risk Index (WRI) computed from the available variables: 2 m temperature, relative humidity, 10 m wind speed and rainfall accumulated over the last 72 h. Formula: WRI = max(0, (T - 10) * 0.35) + max(0, (40 - RH) * 0.55) + min(W, 50) * 0.35 - min(P72, 30) * 0.9. The scale (5/12/21/38) matches EFFIS for visual coherence and operational guidance, but the value should not be interpreted as the official FWI. For emergencies always consult EFFIS, AEMET and your regional government website.

Notice: This tool is advisory and does not replace official warnings from Civil Protection, AEMET or the regional wildfire plans (INFOCA, INFOMUR, INFOCAL, INFOEX, and others). Fire-use legislation varies by region and by declared high-danger season.