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Alexandroupolis fire, August 2023 Αλεξανδρούπολη · Alexandroupolis, Soufliou, Maronias-Sapon

Out · last detection 3 Sept 2023, 00:00 UTC

The fire started on 19 August 2023 in Alexandroupolis, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 24 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 96,610 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the largest fire in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace since 2016 (of 27 with a page). The largest in Greece in 2023, of 34.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Soufliou · 2022Alexandroupolis · 2020Soufliou · 2020Soufliou · 2021

Burnt area
96,610ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
24days
19 Aug 2023 – 11 Sept 2023
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
19 Aug
2023
Heat detections
4,309
in a single hotspot: 940 MW
Danger at start
64
Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
7.7GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Aug11 Sept
3 Sept 2023

How it evolved, day by day

19 Aug 2023 · 482 MW · 62 20 Aug 2023 · 2,861 MW · 163 21 Aug 2023 · 13,917 MW · 357 22 Aug 2023 · 78,334 MW · 1929 23 Aug 2023 · 7,169 MW · 677 24 Aug 2023 · 1,762 MW · 153 25 Aug 2023 · 548 MW · 81 26 Aug 2023 · 2,304 MW · 146 27 Aug 2023 · 2,553 MW · 142 28 Aug 2023 · 246 MW · 52 29 Aug 2023 · 234 MW · 43 30 Aug 2023 · 5,605 MW · 180 31 Aug 2023 · 5,798 MW · 167 1 Sept 2023 · 946 MW · 131 2 Sept 2023 · 70 MW · 21 3 Sept 2023 · 9 MW · 5
19 Aug 22 Aug 25 Aug 28 Aug 31 Aug 3 Sept

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

35°high
82km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 12 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

4% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,084 ha in 2020, 308 ha in 2021, 1,946 ha in 2022.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 61% of the area of London (966 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Alexandroupolis Αλεξανδρούπολη where it started
    58,129 ha reached on 19 Aug
    49 %
  2. Soufliou Σουφλίου
    36,881 ha reached on 21 Aug
    28 %
  3. Maronias-Sapon Μαρωνείας - Σαπών
    1,672 ha reached on 23 Aug
    2.9 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

What burned

  • Mixed forest28 %
  • Broadleaved forest18 %
  • Agricultural areas18 %
  • Sclerophyllous scrub16 %
  • Scrub and transitional woodland14 %
  • Other natural land4.3 %
  • Coniferous forest1.6 %
  • Artificial surfaces0.8 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 65 %

Natura 2000 sites (European Environment Agency, 2024 release) crossed by the perimeter.

Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.

Checked against the press

Checked on 29 September 2026

We checked this page against 4 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:

Also known as
Πυρκαγιά στον Έβρο · Φωτιά στη Δαδιά · Φωτιά στην Αλεξανδρούπολη
According to the sources, several fires that ended up merging:
  • Nipsa / Avantas-Melia-Aristino 19 August 2023
  • Bosque de Dadia (Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli) 21 August 2023
Official area reported: 93,500 ha (the satellite measured 96,610 ha)

Sources

Official figures are measured differently from satellite ones and sometimes cover only part of the fire.

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
19 Aug 32.0 °C 28 % 73 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
20 Aug 32.6 °C 30 % 74 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 70
21 Aug 34.9 °C 18 % 63 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 83
22 Aug 34.6 °C 23 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 75
23 Aug 33.1 °C 26 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
24 Aug 33.6 °C 25 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
25 Aug 32.1 °C 35 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
26 Aug 32.9 °C 29 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
27 Aug 30.1 °C 37 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
28 Aug 31.4 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
29 Aug 31.6 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
30 Aug 29.3 °C 41 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
31 Aug 29.6 °C 33 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
1 Sept 29.6 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 39
2 Sept 29.5 °C 29 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
3 Sept 28.8 °C 30 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
4 Sept 23.7 °C 52 % 72 km/h 1.6 mm High 29
5 Sept 21.2 °C 73 % 82 km/h 2.7 mm Moderate 20
6 Sept 25.4 °C 51 % 74 km/h 0.8 mm High 31
7 Sept 27.4 °C 38 % 68 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
8 Sept 26.3 °C 41 % 70 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
9 Sept 25.0 °C 36 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
10 Sept 25.0 °C 40 % 70 km/h 0.1 mm Extreme 58
11 Sept 24.2 °C 40 % 69 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
12 Sept after 25.8 °C 36 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
13 Sept after 28.0 °C 35 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
14 Sept after 28.6 °C 29 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
15 Sept after 29.4 °C 29 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Sept after 27.4 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
17 Sept after 25.7 °C 48 % 49 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 43
18 Sept after 24.3 °C 41 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
19 Sept after 25.6 °C 37 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
20 Sept after 28.0 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
21 Sept after 27.4 °C 38 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 27

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 12 Aug 2023
After · 18 Sept 2023

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 23 August 2023 the air beside the fire reached 26 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 18: 1.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak26 µg/m³
Days over the guideline2 days
PM1038 µg/m³
Optical depth0.80
1718192021222324252627282930311234567891011121314
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 4,309Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Greece ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Alexandroupolis fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 19 August 2023 and 11 September 2023: 24 days between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 96,610 hectares (966.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Alexandroupolis (58,129 ha, 49 %); Soufliou (36,881 ha, 28 %); Maronias-Sapon (1,672 ha, 2.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.9 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 82 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 83, class Very extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Greece (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Emergency number: 112 · 199 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

Report an error
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112 · 199.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 4,309 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Checked against news and agencies: 4 confirmed sources.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

Where this data comes from

The perimeter and land cover come from the Copernicus European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), measured on MODIS and Sentinel-2 imagery and published under CC BY 4.0. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM3 (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from each country’s official figure.