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BG · 2020 yearbook

Wildfires in Bulgaria in 2020

15 fires larger than 100 hectares in Bulgaria in 2020, with 7,667 hectares burned according to their perimeters. Here is the whole year: what the official record says, when and where it burned and what the weather was like.

Only fires of 100 ha or more get an entry: smaller ones are not in the lists or the entry totals, but they are in the official yearly series.

The year in a few sentences

  1. According to Copernicus EFFIS, 9,179 hectares burned in Bulgaria in 2020: 61% of the average of the other years from 2006 to 2025 (15,146 ha).

    Copernicus EFFIS · See the data

  2. The worst week was 5 August to 11 August: 4,032 hectares burned in seven days, 44% of the year according to Copernicus EFFIS.

    Copernicus EFFIS · See the data

  3. The largest fire was the Topolovgrad fire, which started on 8 August 2020 and burned 2,202 hectares: 29% of the area of the year's 15 fires with a page.

    WorldFires · See the data · Open the fire page

  4. The day of highest danger at a fire this year was 8 August 2020: a Fire Weather Index of 67 (extreme on the EFFIS scale) at the Svilengrad fire, calculated by WorldFires from ERA5.

    WorldFires · ERA5 · See the data · Open the fire page

Official burned area
9,179 ha
Copernicus EFFIS · ×0.6 the average
Fires with a page
15
7,667 ha within their perimeters
Largest fire
2,202 ha
Topolovgrad · 8 Aug
Highest FWI
67 Extreme
8 Aug · Svilengrad

Map of the year

Copernicus EFFIS
One circle per fire, sized by its area. Tap one to open its page.

Month by month

Hectares within the perimeters by the month the fire started. Tap a month to see it on the map.

Week by week, against other years

Copernicus EFFIS

Cumulative burned area in 2020 over the lowest and highest of each week in the record since 2006, and its average. The bars below show what burned each week. Tap the chart to see a week. The average and the band are the Copernicus EFFIS climatology for 2006–2025, which includes 2020 itself.

0 23k 45k 68k Worst week · 4,032 ha Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov
2020 average 2006–2025 lowest and highest Hectares each week

Every year since 2006

Copernicus EFFIS

Hectares burned per year in the official record. Tap a year to open its yearbook.

2020: 9,179 ha Average of the other years: 15,146 ha

Cite this

Markdown version

Copy the sentences with their source and link. WorldFires data are CC BY 4.0: credit WorldFires and the original source.

- According to Copernicus EFFIS, 9,179 hectares burned in Bulgaria in 2020: 61% of the average of the other years from 2006 to 2025 (15,146 ha).
- The worst week was 5 August to 11 August: 4,032 hectares burned in seven days, 44% of the year according to Copernicus EFFIS.
- The largest fire was the Topolovgrad fire, which started on 8 August 2020 and burned 2,202 hectares: 29% of the area of the year's 15 fires with a page.
- The day of highest danger at a fire this year was 8 August 2020: a Fire Weather Index of 67 (extreme on the EFFIS scale) at the Svilengrad fire, calculated by WorldFires from ERA5.

WorldFires, “Wildfires in Bulgaria in 2020”, https://worldfires.org/en/country/bulgaria/2020 (accessed 7 November 2026). Sources: Copernicus EFFIS, WorldFires, WorldFires · ERA5.

Fires of 2020, largest first · 15

Burned area in 2020 (Copernicus Land, Sentinel-3)

According to Copernicus Land, 104,049 ha burned in 2020: rank 5 of 7 complete years (1 = the most burned). The average of those years is 228,361 ha.

The area the Sentinel-3 satellite sees burned each month, separate from the fire pages. It is the same source and the same method every year, so years can be compared with each other. It counts everything that burns, including crop and pasture burning, which is why it does not match the fire pages or the official statistics.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Where most burned in 2020

  1. Pleven 23,539 ha
  2. Montana 11,261 ha
  3. Vratsa 9,549 ha
  4. Haskovo 8,268 ha
  5. Veliko Tarnovo 7,329 ha
  6. Stara Zagora 6,657 ha
  7. Silistra 5,110 ha
  8. Dobrich 4,909 ha
  9. Burgas 4,450 ha
  10. Plovdiv 4,356 ha

The whole series since 2018

Source: Copernicus Land Monitoring Service, “Burnt Area 2018-present (raster 300 m), global, monthly – version 4”, monthly Sentinel-3 product, DOI 10.2909/8fa58061-28ab-49bb-9b77-c26b50733e34. Generated using European Union’s Copernicus Land Monitoring Service information; worldfires.org adds up, by country and region, the true area of the 300 m cells where a burn was detected. Latest month published: May 2026. Product page · Methodology

Sources and limits

Fire-page areas are satellite-measured perimeters and may differ from official statistics. The yearly and weekly record is the Copernicus EFFIS estimate. The FWI is our own calculation from ERA5 at each fire's location: it is not an official danger warning.

Official information for Bulgaria is published by: ГДПБЗН · Пожарна безопасност и защита на населението

Perimeters: Copernicus EFFIS and GWIS (and MTBS, NIFC or NBAC in North America). Hotspots: NASA FIRMS (VIIRS). Weather: Copernicus ERA5 via Open-Meteo. How it is calculated