Burned area
satellite only172ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- perimeter revised on 13 October 2023
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
MK · North Macedonia · –
Demir Hisar fire, October 2023 Општина Демир Хисар/Мургашево · Demir Hisar, Krushevo
Out · last detection 10 Oct 2023, 00:05 UTC
The fire started on 7 October 2023 in Demir Hisar, North Macedonia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 172 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 57th largest in Pelagonia since 2016 (of 76 with a page). Number 17 in North Macedonia in 2023, of 19.
The power measured by the satellite is low (12.4 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-24matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only4days
7 Oct 2023 to 10 Oct 2023: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 10 Oct 2023, 00:05 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only7 Oct 2023
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 7 Oct 2023
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only4
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 12 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 7 Oct 2023 – 10 Oct 2023
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only16MW
Total radiative power on 8 October 2023; hotspots that day: 3.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 8 Oct 2023
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model10.0FWI · low
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 0.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 7 Oct 2023, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model24.3°C · 30% RH
High of 24.3 °C and minimum humidity of 30% on 8 October 2023; gusts of 26 km/h on 8 October 2023.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 7 Oct 2023 – 10 Oct 2023
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
-
· reconstructed perimeterEFFIS (Copernicus) revises the perimeter
What was saved on 24 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 172 ha
- Dates
- 7 Oct 2023 – 10 Oct 2023
- Name
- Demir Hisar
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/demir-hisar-2023-10?v=2026-10-24A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire demir-hisar-2023-10.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-10-07 | 0 | 0 | 22.1 | 9.7 | 33 | 5.4 | 15.1 | 0 | 10 | bajo | 1 |
| 2023-10-08 | 3 | 16 | 24.3 | 8 | 30 | 9.1 | 25.6 | 0 | 18.6 | moderado | 1 |
| 2023-10-09 | 0 | 0 | 22.7 | 10.7 | 33 | 7.4 | 23.8 | 0 | 19.6 | moderado | 1 |
| 2023-10-10 | 1 | 1 | 22.3 | 9.3 | 38 | 8.6 | 22.7 | 0 | 17.7 | moderado | 1 |
| 2023-10-11 | 0 | 0 | 20.1 | 11.3 | 43 | 6.4 | 23.4 | 0.1 | 17.3 | moderado | 0 |
| 2023-10-12 | 0 | 0 | 22.7 | 8.6 | 31 | 4.8 | 14.8 | 0 | 15.5 | moderado | 0 |
| 2023-10-13 | 0 | 0 | 24.4 | 7.1 | 33 | 5.2 | 15.8 | 0 | 15.6 | moderado | 0 |
| 2023-10-14 | 0 | 0 | 24.6 | 8.3 | 34 | 7.7 | 21.2 | 0 | 19.4 | moderado | 0 |
| 2023-10-15 | 0 | 0 | 24.2 | 7.2 | 30 | 11 | 34.2 | 0 | 21.1 | moderado | 0 |
| 2023-10-16 | 0 | 0 | 13.7 | 7.2 | 44 | 11.5 | 30.6 | 1.3 | 9.2 | bajo | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: EFFIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 172ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 4days
- 7 Oct 2023 – 10 Oct 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 7 Oct
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 4
- in a single hotspot: 12 MW
- Danger at start
- 10
- Low · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 8MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
7 Oct10 Oct
10 Oct 2023
How it evolved, day by day
8 Oct
10 Oct
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
24°high
26km/h · peak gust
30%lowest humidity
It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 16 Oct.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
Demir Hisar Општина Демир Хисар/Мургашево 7,260 inhabitants · 8.2 km from the centre where it started109 ha reached on 8 Oct0.2 %
-
64 ha reached on 8 Oct0.3 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
What burned
- Agricultural areas79 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland19 %
- Broadleaved forest2.3 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2025Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Oct | 22.1 °C | 33 % | 15 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 8 Oct | 24.3 °C | 30 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 9 Oct | 22.7 °C | 33 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 10 Oct | 22.3 °C | 38 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 11 Oct after | 20.1 °C | 43 % | 23 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 12 Oct after | 22.7 °C | 31 % | 15 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 13 Oct after | 24.4 °C | 33 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 14 Oct after | 24.6 °C | 34 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 15 Oct after | 24.2 °C | 30 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 16 Oct after | 13.7 °C | 44 % | 31 km/h | 1.3 mm | Low 9 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 10.0, a minimum humidity of 33% and rain the day before. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 29.
FWI at the start
10.0
Minimum humidity
33 %
Days without rain
0
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Demir Hisar fire, October 2023
172 ha
4 days
FWI 10.0
Min. humidity 33 %
Bulqizë fire, July 2017
103 ha
5 days
FWI 10.6
Min. humidity 32 %
95 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 2.3 mm on 26 Jul.
Dolneni fire, October 2017
192 ha
3 days
FWI 11.5
Min. humidity 33 %
34 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 7.0 mm on 23 Oct.
Dibër fire, July 2020
143 ha
4 days
FWI 8.1
Min. humidity 34 %
89 km away, in 2020
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.8 mm on 1 Aug.
Kuçovë fire, April 2016
104 ha
3 days
FWI 9.1
Min. humidity 34 %
88 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 15.8 mm on 23 Apr.
Vranje City fire, March 2024
102 ha
1 day
FWI 7.7
Min. humidity 33 %
166 km away, in 2024
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
What happened to them
- 3 days
- median duration
- 140 ha
- median area
- 3 %
- went past 1,000 ha
- 4.9 mm
- rain at the end (median; 23 of 29 had it)
It burned an area similar to its twins (172 ha against a median of 140 ha) and lasted 4 days, against 3 days.
In 6 of 29, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 4.9 mm.
This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it
How it ended
1.3 mmfirst rain
16 Oct6 days after it ended
26km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 10 Oct, and on 16 Oct 1.3 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 23 of 29, with a median of 4.9 mm.
Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
How a twin is chosen
- Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
- Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
- Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
- Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
- They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 30 Sept 2023
After · 17 Oct 2023
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 10 October 2023 the air beside the fire reached 17 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak17 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1036 µg/m³
Optical depth0.27
WHO 15
5 Oct7 Oct9 Oct11 Oct13 Oct
Good
Fair
Moderate
Poor
Very poor
Extremely poor
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 · 4Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV
Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 3,551 haDrugovo Општина КичевоAugust 2024 · 6 days · 21 km away
- 2,771 haPrilep Општина Прилеп7 September 2019 · 7 days · 28 km away
- 1,968 haMogila Општина Могила12 August 2026 · 9 days · 28 km away
- 10,265 haMariovo Општина ПрилепSeptember 2024 · 7 days · 30 km away
- 7,752 haPrilep Општина ПрилепAugust 2026 · 11 days · 31 km away
- 6,884 haChashka Општина Чашка14 August 2024 · 15 days · 33 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Demir Hisar fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 7 October 2023 and 10 October 2023: 4 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 172 hectares (1.7 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Demir Hisar (109 ha, 0.2 %); Krushevo (64 ha, 0.3 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The fire started in Demir Hisar and came within 8.2 km of its centre. That is the distance from the perimeter, or the nearest hotspot, to the point marking the centre; it does not mean it entered the houses.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 24.3 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 26 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 20, class Moderate.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of North Macedonia (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
- How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
- Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 29. Their median duration was 3 days and their median area 140 ha; 3 % went past 1,000 ha. In 6 of 29, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 4.9 mm.
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: 193 · 112 · Emergency number and official warnings
Satellite cross-check
History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
No changes since 24 October 2026.
RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 4 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- We have not matched this page with any official record.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
- Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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 ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.