How long did the Dirfys-Messapia fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 15 October 2017 and 16 October 2017: 2 days between the first and last image with fire.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 109 hectares (1.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Dirfys-Messapia (107 ha, 0.1 %); Eretria (2 ha, 0.0 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 7.8 km of Dirfys-Messapia. That is the distance to the perimeter or nearest hotspot; it does not mean it entered the houses.

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 19.5 °C, humidity dropped to 42 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 14, class Moderate.

Where does this data come from?

From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Greece (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

EL · Greece · 2017-10-15 → 2017-10-16

Dirfys-Messapia fire, October 2017 δημοτική ενότητα Διρφύων Εύβοιας · Dirfys-Messapia, Eretria

Out · last detection 16 Oct 2017, 01:15 UTC

The fire started on 15 October 2017 in Dirfys-Messapia, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 109 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 48th largest in Central Greece since 2016 (of 53 with a page). Number 30 in Greece in 2017, of 32.

The power measured by the satellite is low (27.7 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: 109ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 2days; 15 Oct 2017 – 16 Oct 2017
Municipalities hit: 2; municipalities
Started on: 15 Oct; 2017
Heat detections: 8; in a single hotspot: 28 MW
Danger at start: 14; Moderate · FWI index
Energy released: 68MW; sum of detected power

Play back 16 Oct 2017

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Oct16 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

1516

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

20°high

48km/h · peak gust

42%lowest humidity

It had gone 13 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 5.5 mm on 24 Oct.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

Dirfys-Messapia δημοτική ενότητα Διρφύων Εύβοιας 6,265 inhabitants · 7.8 km from the town where it started

107 ha reached on 15 Oct

0.1 %
Eretria δημοτική ενότητα Ερέτριας 6,746 inhabitants

2 ha

0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the official 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.

What burned

Other natural land39 %
Scrub and transitional woodland30 %
Coniferous forest25 %
Agricultural areas6.4 %

Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.

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)
15 Oct	17.0 °C	46 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 14
16 Oct	19.5 °C	42 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
17 Oct after	17.6 °C	51 %	47 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 14
18 Oct after	18.0 °C	49 %	36 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
19 Oct after	19.0 °C	45 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 11
20 Oct after	20.4 °C	42 %	21 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 11
21 Oct after	19.8 °C	50 %	20 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 11
22 Oct after	22.4 °C	32 %	19 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 14
23 Oct after	20.2 °C	34 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
24 Oct after	15.5 °C	41 %	35 km/h	5.5 mm	Very low 1

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

↔

Before · 8 Oct 2017

After · 23 Oct 2017

Before After

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 · Copernicus

On 19 October 2017 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

PM1026 µg/m³

WHO 15

13141516171819

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 · 8Every 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

All fires in Greece ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Dirfys-Messapia fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 15 October 2017 and 16 October 2017: 2 days between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 109 hectares (1.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Dirfys-Messapia (107 ha, 0.1 %); Eretria (2 ha, 0.0 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 7.8 km of Dirfys-Messapia. That is the distance to the perimeter or nearest hotspot; it does not mean it entered the houses.
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 19.5 °C, humidity dropped to 42 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 14, class Moderate.
Where does this data come from?: From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Greece (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 · 199

Satellite cross-check

NASA FIRMS ↗
EFFIS · Copernicus ↗

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

What do you think is wrong?

Dates or duration Place or towns Burned area Name It was not a wildfire Same fire as another page Something else

What really happened?

Your connection to the fire (optional) Email (optional)

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112 · 199.

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 ADM3 (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication). 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.

Where it burned