Burned area
satellite only166ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- perimeter revised on 4 June 2024
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
UA · Ukraine · –
Balakliia fire, May 2024 Балаклійський район · Balakliia
Out · last detection 26 May 2024, 23:50 UTC
The fire started on 24 May 2024 in Balakliia, Ukraine, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 166 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 266th largest in Kharkiv Oblast since 2016 (of 558 with a page). Number 1206 in Ukraine in 2024, of 2092.
The power measured by the satellite is low (16.8 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-24matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only4days
24 May 2024 to 27 May 2024: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 26 May 2024, 23:50 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only24 May 2024
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 24 May 2024
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only12
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 17 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 24 May 2024 – 27 May 2024
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only50MW
Total radiative power on 24 May 2024; hotspots that day: 5.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 24 May 2024
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model32.4FWI · high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 0.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 24 May 2024, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model27.2°C · 21% RH
High of 27.2 °C and minimum humidity of 21% on 27 May 2024; gusts of 50 km/h on 24 May 2024.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 24 May 2024 – 27 May 2024
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
-
· reconstructed perimeterEFFIS (Copernicus) revises the perimeter
What was saved on 24 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 166 ha
- Dates
- 24 May 2024 – 27 May 2024
- Name
- Balakliia
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/balakliia-2024-05?v=2026-10-24A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire balakliia-2024-05.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-05-24 | 5 | 50 | 24.3 | 13 | 21 | 26.2 | 49.7 | 0 | 32.4 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-05-25 | 6 | 31 | 23.1 | 9.3 | 18 | 22.7 | 46.1 | 0 | 33 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-05-26 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 10.1 | 24 | 20.7 | 40.7 | 0 | 32.2 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-05-27 | 0 | 0 | 27.2 | 10.8 | 21 | 22.3 | 43.9 | 0 | 34.7 | alto | 1 |
| 2024-05-28 | 0 | 0 | 28.2 | 13.1 | 19 | 21.5 | 42.8 | 0 | 36.5 | alto | 0 |
| 2024-05-29 | 0 | 0 | 26.8 | 16 | 24 | 23.2 | 44.3 | 0 | 38.9 | muy_alto | 0 |
| 2024-05-30 | 0 | 0 | 24.8 | 16.4 | 48 | 14.1 | 29.2 | 0.9 | 15.6 | moderado | 0 |
| 2024-05-31 | 0 | 0 | 24.9 | 15.3 | 52 | 8.3 | 26.6 | 0.9 | 10.1 | bajo | 0 |
| 2024-06-01 | 0 | 0 | 29.4 | 14.1 | 31 | 13 | 27.4 | 0 | 22.9 | alto | 0 |
| 2024-06-02 | 0 | 0 | 30.7 | 16 | 26 | 21.4 | 39.6 | 0 | 35.2 | alto | 0 |
| 2024-06-03 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 18.7 | 41 | 18.6 | 41 | 0.2 | 30.5 | alto | 0 |
| 2024-06-04 | 0 | 0 | 29.8 | 16.5 | 36 | 13.5 | 29.5 | 0.3 | 27.3 | alto | 0 |
| 2024-06-05 | 0 | 0 | 26.1 | 17.5 | 52 | 13.5 | 32.8 | 2.5 | 6.8 | bajo | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: EFFIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 166ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 4days
- 24 May 2024 – 27 May 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 24 May
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 12
- in a single hotspot: 17 MW
- Danger at start
- 32
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 28MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
24 May27 May
26 May 2024
How it evolved, day by day
24 May
25 May
26 May
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
27°high
50km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity
It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.5 mm on 5 Jun.
This area had burned before
19% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 32 ha in 2022.
What happened to each town
-
166 ha reached on 24 May0.1 %
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
- Coniferous forest82 %
- Mixed forest16 %
- Other natural land1.8 %
Land cover inside the perimeter as reported by Copernicus EFFIS (outside the Corine Land Cover area).
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2025Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 May | 24.3 °C | 21 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 25 May | 23.1 °C | 18 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 26 May | 23.0 °C | 24 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 27 May | 27.2 °C | 21 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 28 May after | 28.2 °C | 19 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 29 May after | 26.8 °C | 24 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 30 May after | 24.8 °C | 48 % | 29 km/h | 0.9 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 31 May after | 24.9 °C | 52 % | 27 km/h | 0.9 mm | Low 10 |
| 1 Jun after | 29.4 °C | 31 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 2 Jun after | 30.7 °C | 26 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 3 Jun after | 30.0 °C | 41 % | 41 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 30 |
| 4 Jun after | 29.8 °C | 36 % | 30 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 27 |
| 5 Jun after | 26.1 °C | 52 % | 33 km/h | 2.5 mm | Low 7 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 32.4, a minimum humidity of 21% and rain the day before. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2020: 67.
FWI at the start
32.4
Minimum humidity
21 %
Days without rain
0
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Balakliia fire, May 2024
166 ha
4 days
FWI 32.4
Min. humidity 21 %
Kostiantynivka fire, August 2026
124 ha
4 days
FWI 33.3
Min. humidity 21 %
139 km away, in 2026
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.2 mm on 27 Aug.
Dvorichna fire, August 2024
2,132 ha
5 days
FWI 32.5
Min. humidity 22 %
100 km away, in 2024
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Sakhnovshchyna fire, September 2024
238 ha
1 day
FWI 33.0
Min. humidity 23 %
98 km away, in 2024
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Lutuhyne fire, August 2024
313 ha
1 day
FWI 32.7
Min. humidity 21 %
212 km away, in 2024
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 3.9 mm on 4 Aug.
Lutuhyne fire, August 2024
104 ha
2 days
FWI 32.8
Min. humidity 21 %
212 km away, in 2024
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 2.7 mm on 5 Aug.
What happened to them
- 3 days
- median duration
- 173 ha
- median area
- 1 %
- went past 1,000 ha
- 3.9 mm
- rain at the end (median; 51 of 67 had it)
It burned an area similar to its twins (166 ha against a median of 173 ha) and lasted 4 days, against 3 days.
In 16 of 67, 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 3.9 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
2.5 mmfirst rain
5 Jun9 days after it ended
50km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 27 May, and on 5 Jun 2.5 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 51 of 67, with a median of 3.9 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 2020.
- 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.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 17 May 2024
After · 3 Jun 2024
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 · CopernicusOn 29 May 2024 the air beside the fire reached 14 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak14 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1046 µg/m³
Optical depth0.63
22 May24 May26 May28 May
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 · 12Every 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 time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 3,057 haBalakliia Балаклійський район17 September 2024 · 9 days · 6 km away
- 1,374 haIzium Ізюмський район21 May 2024 · 8 days · 27 km away
- 922 haIzium Ізюмський район30 July 2025 · 4 days · 29 km away
- 2,016 haIzium Ізюмський район30 May 2024 · 8 days · 33 km away
- 1,355 haBarvinkove Барвінківський район21 August 2024 · 8 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Balakliia fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 24 May 2024 to 27 May 2024 (4 days). The perimeter dates it from 24 May 2024 to 25 May 2024.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 166 hectares (1.7 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Balakliia (166 ha, 0.1 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire started in Balakliia and came within 9.0 km of its centre. 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 27.2 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 50 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Ukraine (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 2020 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 67. Their median duration was 3 days and their median area 173 ha; 1 % went past 1,000 ha. In 16 of 67, 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 3.9 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: 101 · 112 · 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 With cross-checks and a citable version
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 24 May 2024 to 25 May 2024. 12 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 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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 (Public Domain). 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.