Bileća fire, 14 August 2025 Bileća, Ljubinje, Berkovići
The fire started on 14 August 2025 in Bileća, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 1,883 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 20th largest in Republika Srpska since 2016 (of 391 with a page). Number 4 in Bosnia & Herzegovina in 2025, of 65.
The power measured by the satellite is low (22.8 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
- 1,883ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 4days
- 14 Aug 2025 – 17 Aug 2025
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 14 Aug
- 2025
- Heat detections
- 16
- in a single hotspot: 23 MW
- Danger at start
- 20
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 85MW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.0 mm on 18 Aug.
This area had burned before
77% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 181 ha in 2017, 328 ha in 2020, 802 ha in 2021, 587 ha in 2022, 287 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,446 ha that had burned before.
- 478 ha Bileća fire, March 2022 637 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 447 ha Bileća fire, August 2021 543 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 287 ha Bileća fire, March 2024 291 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 261 ha Bileća fire, July 2021 261 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 185 ha Bileća fire, March 2020 193 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 181 ha Bileća fire, August 2017 181 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 143 ha Ljubinje fire, April 2020 190 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 109 ha Bileća fire, March 2022 142 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Bileća where it started1,738 ha reached on 14 Aug2.7 %
-
125 ha reached on 18 Aug0.4 %
-
24 ha0.1 %
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
- Sclerophyllous scrub36 %
- Broadleaved forest25 %
- Other natural land21 %
- Agricultural areas9.2 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland8.6 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Aug | 32.2 °C | 32 % | 23 km/h | 0.6 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 15 Aug | 31.6 °C | 25 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 16 Aug | 31.0 °C | 26 % | 31 km/h | 0.9 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 17 Aug | 26.8 °C | 40 % | 32 km/h | 2.5 mm | Low 6 |
| 18 Aug after | 26.7 °C | 43 % | 31 km/h | 6.0 mm | Very low 2 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 17 August 2025 the air beside the fire reached 14 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
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 · 16Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Bileća fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 14 August 2025 and 17 August 2025: 4 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 1,883 hectares (18.8 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Bileća (1,738 ha, 2.7 %); Ljubinje (125 ha, 0.4 %); Berkovići (24 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.2 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 23, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Bosnia & Herzegovina (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: 123 · 112
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
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 (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.