Borore fire, August 2021 Birori, Dualchi, Bortigali
The fire started on 10 August 2021 in Borore, Italy, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 1,447 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 4 municipalities.
It is the 3th largest in Nuoro since 2016 (of 36 with a page). Number 13 in Italy in 2021, of 291.
- Burnt area
- 1,447ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 10 Aug 2021 – 10 Aug 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 4
- municipalities
- Started on
- 10 Aug
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 12
- in a single hotspot: 37 MW
- Danger at start
- 49
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 270MW
- 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 24 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
56% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 785 ha in 2016, 239 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 816 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Birori 498 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the town499 ha reached on 10 Aug28 %
-
Dualchi 574 inhabitants · 0.3 km from the town415 ha18 %
-
Bortigali 1,214 inhabitants · 1.7 km from the town334 ha5.0 %
-
Borore where it started201 ha reached on 10 Aug4.7 %
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
- Agricultural areas81 %
- Sclerophyllous scrub17 %
- Broadleaved forest2.0 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 100 %
- ZEPA Altopiano di Abbasanta ITB023051
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 CFVA Sardegna, this fire started on 10 August 2021 and burned 1,361 ha (the satellite measured 1,447 ha).
- Birori Crastu Abile 10 August 2021 1,361 ha
Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, Corpo Forestale e di Vigilanza Ambientale: perimetri delle aree percorse dal fuoco (CC BY 4.0). 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Aug | 38.7 °C | 21 % | 47 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 49 |
| 11 Aug after | 36.4 °C | 25 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 12 Aug after | 37.8 °C | 24 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 13 Aug after | 36.8 °C | 25 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 14 Aug after | 36.3 °C | 31 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 15 Aug after | 34.7 °C | 34 % | 35 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 36 |
| 16 Aug after | 33.3 °C | 34 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 17 Aug after | 28.2 °C | 52 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 18 Aug after | 26.9 °C | 51 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 19 Aug after | 29.0 °C | 46 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 20 Aug after | 29.7 °C | 40 % | 33 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 28 |
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.
Detections table · 12Every 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 Borore fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 10 August 2021 and 10 August 2021: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 1,447 hectares (14.5 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 4 municipalities: Birori (499 ha, 28 %); Dualchi (415 ha, 18 %); Bortigali (334 ha, 5.0 %); Borore (201 ha, 4.7 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.3 km of Dualchi. 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 38.7 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, 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.
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
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 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.