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Argaka fire, June 2016 Αργάκα · Argaka, Makounta, Kynousa

Out · last measured on 19 Jun 2016

The fire started on 19 June 2016 in Argaka, Cyprus, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 799 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 2th largest in Paphos since 2016 (of 13 with a page). Number 2 in Cyprus in 2016, of 2.

We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
799ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
19 Jun 2016 – 19 Jun 2016
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
19 Jun
2016
Danger at start
25
High · FWI index
Natura 2000
100%
of the perimeter is protected land

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

32°high
25km/h · peak gust
33%lowest humidity

It had gone 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Argaka Αργάκα 1,078 inhabitants · 0.7 km from the town where it started
    674 ha
    42 %
  2. Makounta Μακούντα 116 inhabitants · 1.4 km from the town
    110 ha
    14 %
  3. Kynousa Κινούσα 71 inhabitants · 1.3 km from the town
    18 ha
    2.1 %

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

What burned

  • Scrub and transitional woodland87 %
  • Coniferous forest11 %
  • Agricultural areas1.6 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 100 %

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.

Official record

According to Τμήμα Δασών, this fire started on 18 June 2016 and burned 763 ha (the satellite measured 799 ha).

Τμήμα Δασών (Departamento de Bosques de Chipre), catálogo de incendios forestales. This is the agency’s consolidated statistic: it measures the area in its own way, which is why it can differ from the satellite.

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 Jun 31.9 °C 33 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
20 Jun after 32.6 °C 28 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
21 Jun after 32.9 °C 30 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
22 Jun after 32.2 °C 40 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
23 Jun after 31.9 °C 40 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
24 Jun after 31.9 °C 45 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
25 Jun after 32.3 °C 38 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
26 Jun after 30.9 °C 41 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
27 Jun after 26.8 °C 57 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
28 Jun after 29.1 °C 64 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
29 Jun after 29.2 °C 60 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 23

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Jun 2016
After · 26 Jun 2016

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 22 June 2016 the air beside the fire reached 26 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 24: 1.6 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak26 µg/m³
Days over the guideline3 days
PM1041 µg/m³
171819202122
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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Cyprus ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Argaka fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 19 June 2016 and 19 June 2016: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 799 hectares (8.0 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Argaka (674 ha, 42 %); Makounta (110 ha, 14 %); Kynousa (18 ha, 2.1 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.7 km of Argaka. That is the distance to the perimeter or nearest hotspot; it does not mean it entered the houses.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.9 °C, humidity dropped to 33 % and gusts hit 25 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Cyprus (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 · 1407

Satellite cross-check

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 · 1407.

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 ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported). 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.