Dedoplis Tskaro fire, 25 July 2018 Dedoplis Tskaro
The fire started on 25 July 2018 in Dedoplis Tskaro, Georgia, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,392 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 15th largest in Kakheti since 2016 (of 201 with a page). Number 2 in Georgia in 2018, of 30.
- Burnt area
- 1,392ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 25 Jul 2018 – 30 Jul 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 25 Jul
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 52
- in a single hotspot: 47 MW
- Danger at start
- 26
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 464MW
- 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 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.7 mm on 4 Aug.
This area had burned before
59% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 607 ha in 2016, 487 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 817 ha that had burned before.
- 607 ha Dedoplis Tskaro fire, August 2016 1,392 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 441 ha Dedoplis Tskaro fire, July 2017 773 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 47 ha Dedoplis Tskaro fire, July 2017 1,550 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Dedoplis Tskaro where it started1,394 ha reached on 20 Jul0.5 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS 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.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Jul | 34.9 °C | 35 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 26 Jul | 34.9 °C | 36 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 27 Jul | 35.2 °C | 27 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 28 Jul | 33.9 °C | 21 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 41 |
| 29 Jul | 34.9 °C | 21 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 30 Jul | 35.0 °C | 22 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 31 Jul after | 34.8 °C | 18 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 1 Aug after | 35.1 °C | 19 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 2 Aug after | 34.6 °C | 21 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 3 Aug after | 34.1 °C | 28 % | 32 km/h | 0.4 mm | Very high 41 |
| 4 Aug after | 30.8 °C | 36 % | 32 km/h | 3.7 mm | Low 11 |
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 · 52Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 3,749 haDedoplis Tskaro26 July 2025 · 4 days · 1 km away
- 14,812 haDedoplis Tskaro4 August 2026 · 9 days · 6 km away
- 1,972 haDedoplis Tskaro3 August 2019 · 3 days · 18 km away
- 3,290 haSighnaghi5 July 2020 · 5 days · 22 km away
- 2,722 haSighnaghi2 July 2019 · 7 days · 26 km away
- 2,028 haSighnaghi31 July 2026 · 6 days · 31 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Dedoplis Tskaro fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 July 2018 and 30 July 2018: 6 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 1,392 hectares (13.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Dedoplis Tskaro (1,394 ha, 0.5 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.2 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Georgia (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
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 comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. 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 from each country’s official figure.