Dedoplis Tskaro fire, July 2026 Dedoplis Tskaro, Sighnaghi
The fire started on 31 July 2026 in Dedoplis Tskaro, Georgia, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,552 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 5th largest in Kakheti since 2016 (of 201 with a page). Number 2 in Georgia in 2026, of 37.
The power measured by the satellite is low (15.2 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
- 2,552ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 9days
- 31 Jul 2026 – 8 Aug 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 31 Jul
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 33
- in a single hotspot: 15 MW
- Danger at start
- 11
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 153MW
- 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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 10 Aug.
This area had burned before
61% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 686 ha in 2016, 201 ha in 2021, 351 ha in 2022, 1,136 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,560 ha that had burned before.
- 425 ha Sighnaghi fire, August 2016 438 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 351 ha Dedoplis Tskaro fire, July 2022 430 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 317 ha Dedoplis Tskaro fire, July 2025 401 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 251 ha Dedoplis Tskaro fire, July 2025 319 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 181 ha Sighnaghi fire, July 2025 363 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Dedoplis Tskaro where it started1,587 ha reached on 30 Jul0.6 %
-
971 ha reached on 1 Aug0.8 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Jul | 29.0 °C | 38 % | 35 km/h | 1.7 mm | Moderate 11 |
| 31 Jul | 29.8 °C | 39 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 1 Aug | 29.8 °C | 44 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 2 Aug | 30.2 °C | 44 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 3 Aug | 31.5 °C | 33 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 4 Aug | 32.1 °C | 28 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 5 Aug | 31.3 °C | 26 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 6 Aug | 30.0 °C | 35 % | 28 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 24 |
| 7 Aug | 32.8 °C | 23 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 8 Aug | 33.5 °C | 25 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 9 Aug after | 34.5 °C | 22 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 10 Aug after | 30.9 °C | 27 % | 42 km/h | 1.3 mm | High 22 |
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 7 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 25 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 21: 1.4 times the WHO daily 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 · 33Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 1,751 haSighnaghi1 July 2018 · 6 days · 21 km away
- 1,556 haSighnaghi5 July 2020 · 4 days · 21 km away
- 3,290 haSighnaghi5 July 2020 · 5 days · 24 km away
- 2,028 haSighnaghi31 July 2026 · 6 days · 24 km away
- 2,722 haSighnaghi2 July 2019 · 7 days · 27 km away
- 14,812 haDedoplis Tskaro4 August 2026 · 9 days · 34 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Dedoplis Tskaro fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 31 July 2026 and 8 August 2026: 9 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 2,552 hectares (25.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Dedoplis Tskaro (1,587 ha, 0.6 %); Sighnaghi (971 ha, 0.8 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 33.5 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, class 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.