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IT · Italy · –

Ascoli Satriano fire, July 2021 Ascoli Satriano, Lavello

Out · last detection 10 Jul 2021, 00:18 UTC

The fire started on 6 July 2021 in Ascoli Satriano, Italy, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 113 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 32th largest in Foggia since 2016 (of 38 with a page). Number 259 in Italy in 2021, of 291.

The power measured by the satellite is low (9.6 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
113ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
5days
6 Jul 2021 – 10 Jul 2021
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
6 Jul
2021
Heat detections
7
in a single hotspot: 10 MW
Danger at start
40
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
12MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Jul10 Jul
10 Jul 2021

How it evolved, day by day

9 Jul 2021 · 23 MW · 6 10 Jul 2021 · 1 MW · 1
9 Jul 10 Jul

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

The weather it burned in

40°high
38km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 6 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.0 mm on 17 Jul.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Ascoli Satriano 5,863 inhabitants · 25.5 km from the centre where it started
    95 ha reached on 9 Jul
    0.3 %
  2. Lavello 12,863 inhabitants · 3.9 km from the centre
    18 ha reached on 9 Jul
    0.1 %

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

  • Agricultural areas65 %
  • Broadleaved forest35 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 85 %

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.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area0.23 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.23 hectares of built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
6 Jul 34.9 °C 29 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
7 Jul 37.6 °C 25 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
8 Jul 39.7 °C 23 % 27 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 43
9 Jul 36.8 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 43
10 Jul 34.5 °C 24 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
11 Jul after 33.1 °C 35 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
12 Jul after 35.5 °C 29 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
13 Jul after 37.1 °C 20 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
14 Jul after 32.5 °C 28 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
15 Jul after 30.4 °C 36 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
16 Jul after 30.6 °C 37 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
17 Jul after 28.0 °C 46 % 29 km/h 5.0 mm High 29

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 39.7, a minimum humidity of 29% and 6 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 34.

FWI at the start 39.7
Minimum humidity 29 %
Days without rain 6
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Calitri fire, August 2024
137 ha 1 day FWI 41.3 Min. humidity 28 % 33 km away, in 2024

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.2 mm on 3 Aug.

What happened to them

2 days
median duration
169 ha
median area
3 %
went past 1,000 ha
2.9 mm
rain at the end (median; 27 of 34 had it)

It stayed below its twins: 113 ha against a median of 169 ha. It lasted 5 days, against 2 days.

In 7 of 34, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.9 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

5.0 mmfirst rain
17 Jul7 days after it ended
38km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 10 Jul, and on 17 Jul 5.0 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 27 of 34, with a median of 2.9 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 29 Jun 2021
After · 17 Jul 2021

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 13 July 2021 the air beside the fire reached 18 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak18 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1034 µg/m³
7 Jul9 Jul11 Jul13 Jul
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 · 7Every 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 Italy

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ascoli Satriano fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 6 July 2021 to 10 July 2021 (5 days). The perimeter dates it from 9 July 2021 to 10 July 2021.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 113 hectares (1.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ascoli Satriano (95 ha, 0.3 %); Lavello (18 ha, 0.1 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire came within 3.9 km of the centre of Lavello, the closest of the areas it touched. That is the distance from the perimeter, or the nearest hotspot, to the point marking the centre; it does not mean it entered the houses.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.7 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 43, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Italy (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 34. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 169 ha; 3 % went past 1,000 ha. In 7 of 34, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 2.9 mm.

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 · 1515 · 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.

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 · 1515.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 9 July 2021 to 10 July 2021. 7 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

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 ADM4 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License). 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.