Dedoplis Tskaro fire, 16 July 2019 Dedoplis Tskaro
The fire started on 16 July 2019 in Dedoplis Tskaro, Georgia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 472 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 94th largest in Kakheti since 2016 (of 201 with a page). Number 22 in Georgia in 2019, of 49.
The power measured by the satellite is low (14.8 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
- 472ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 16 Jul 2019 – 19 Jul 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 16 Jul
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 17
- in a single hotspot: 15 MW
- Danger at start
- 5
- Low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 121MW
- 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 one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 25 Jul.
This area had burned before
63% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 221 ha in 2016, 115 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 299 ha that had burned before.
- 164 ha Dedoplis Tskaro fire, August 2016 379 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 105 ha Dedoplis Tskaro fire, July 2018 354 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 10 ha Dedoplis Tskaro fire, July 2018 697 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Dedoplis Tskaro where it started473 ha reached on 16 Jul0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Jul | 30.8 °C | 41 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 5 |
| 17 Jul | 28.9 °C | 50 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 8 |
| 18 Jul | 30.2 °C | 47 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 19 Jul | 30.2 °C | 49 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 20 Jul after | 31.0 °C | 46 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 21 Jul after | 31.8 °C | 40 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 22 Jul after | 30.9 °C | 46 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 23 Jul after | 29.5 °C | 54 % | 29 km/h | 0.7 mm | Low 9 |
| 24 Jul after | 31.5 °C | 42 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 25 Jul after | 32.5 °C | 42 % | 22 km/h | 1.1 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 · 17Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 14,812 haDedoplis Tskaro4 August 2026 · 9 days · 2 km away
- 3,749 haDedoplis Tskaro26 July 2025 · 4 days · 6 km away
- 3,290 haSighnaghi5 July 2020 · 5 days · 15 km away
- 2,722 haSighnaghi2 July 2019 · 7 days · 19 km away
- 2,028 haSighnaghi31 July 2026 · 6 days · 24 km away
- 1,972 haDedoplis Tskaro3 August 2019 · 3 days · 24 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Dedoplis Tskaro fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 July 2019 and 19 July 2019: 4 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 472 hectares (4.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Dedoplis Tskaro (473 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.8 °C, humidity dropped to 41 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 9, class Low.
- 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.