Dedoplis Tskaro fire, October 2020 Dedoplis Tskaro, Sighnaghi
The fire started on 14 October 2020 in Dedoplis Tskaro, Georgia, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 336 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 156th largest in Kakheti since 2016 (of 201 with a page). Number 26 in Georgia in 2020, of 31.
The power measured by the satellite is low (26.6 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
- 336ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 1day
- 14 Oct 2020 – 14 Oct 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 14 Oct
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 8
- in a single hotspot: 27 MW
- Danger at start
- 10
- Low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 69MW
- 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 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 4.5 mm on 20 Oct.
This area had burned before
76% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 132 ha in 2017, 54 ha in 2018, 118 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 254 ha that had burned before.
- 132 ha Dedoplis Tskaro fire, July 2017 350 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 118 ha Sighnaghi fire, July 2019 2,722 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 54 ha Dedoplis Tskaro fire, July 2018 449 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Dedoplis Tskaro where it started295 ha reached on 14 Oct0.1 %
-
41 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Oct | 23.6 °C | 52 % | 14 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 15 Oct after | 23.1 °C | 56 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 16 Oct after | 23.8 °C | 62 % | 14 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 17 Oct after | 24.5 °C | 55 % | 14 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 18 Oct after | 24.1 °C | 56 % | 14 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 19 Oct after | 26.7 °C | 43 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 20 Oct after | 24.1 °C | 45 % | 24 km/h | 4.5 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.
Detections table · 8Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 3,290 haSighnaghi5 July 2020 · 5 days · 4 km away
- 2,722 haSighnaghi2 July 2019 · 7 days · 7 km away
- 14,812 haDedoplis Tskaro4 August 2026 · 9 days · 13 km away
- 2,028 haSighnaghi31 July 2026 · 6 days · 13 km away
- 3,749 haDedoplis Tskaro26 July 2025 · 4 days · 18 km away
- 1,751 haSighnaghi1 July 2018 · 6 days · 21 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Dedoplis Tskaro fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 14 October 2020 and 14 October 2020: 1 day 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 336 hectares (3.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Dedoplis Tskaro (295 ha, 0.1 %); Sighnaghi (41 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 23.6 °C, humidity dropped to 52 % and gusts hit 14 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 10, 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.