Evia fire, August 2021 Εύβοια · Mantoudi-Limni-Agia Anna, Istiaia-Aidipsos
The fire started on 3 August 2021 in Mantoudi-Limni-Agia Anna, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 51,881 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the largest fire in Central Greece since 2016 (of 53 with a page). The largest in Greece in 2021, of 45.
- Burnt area
- 51,881ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 9days
- 3 Aug 2021 – 11 Aug 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 3 Aug
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 4,019
- in a single hotspot: 703 MW
- Danger at start
- 71
- Very extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 76.6GW
- 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 13 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 14 Aug.
This area had burned before
2% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 860 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
30,754 ha reached on 5 Aug52 %
-
Istiaia-Aidipsos Ιστιαίας-Αιδηψού20,611 ha reached on 5 Aug41 %
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
- Agricultural areas34 %
- Coniferous forest29 %
- Mixed forest20 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland9.6 %
- Broadleaved forest4.8 %
- Sclerophyllous scrub2.5 %
- Artificial surfaces0.7 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 2 %
- ZEPA OROS KANTILI GR2420010
- LIC THALASSIA PERIOCHI KAI YFALOI VOREIOANATOLIKIS EVVOIAS GR2420014
Natura 2000 sites (European Environment Agency, 2024 release) crossed by the perimeter.
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Checked against the press
Checked on 29 September 2026We checked this page against 4 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:
- Also known as
- Φωτιά στη Βόρεια Εύβοια · Evia wildfire · Euboea fire
- Official area reported: 51,203 ha (the satellite measured 51,881 ha)
Sources
- ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΗ: Η Βόρεια Εύβοια ένα χρόνο μετά την καταστροφική πυρκαγιά — Parallaxi Magazine, 11 July 2022
- Suppression versus prevention - the disastrous forest fire season of 2021 in Greece — International Association of Wildland Fire (Wildfire Magazine), 1 April 2022
- Αρχική αποτίμηση αποτελεσμάτων της πυρκαγιάς στην Βόρεια Εύβοια — dasarxeio.com (Dasarxeio), 18 August 2021
- Εθνικό Αστεροσκοπείο: Πάνω από 450 χιλιάδες στρέμματα η καμένη έκταση στη Βόρεια Εύβοια — ieidiseis.gr (cita al Observatorio Nacional de Atenas, BEYOND), 12 August 2021
Official figures are measured differently from satellite ones and sometimes cover only part of the fire.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Aug | 37.1 °C | 11 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 71 |
| 4 Aug | 36.3 °C | 15 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 5 Aug | 38.6 °C | 7 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 6 Aug | 32.2 °C | 17 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 68 |
| 7 Aug | 28.3 °C | 21 % | 50 km/h | 0.6 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 8 Aug | 28.6 °C | 33 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 38 |
| 9 Aug | 31.9 °C | 28 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 10 Aug | 33.3 °C | 27 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 11 Aug | 33.3 °C | 30 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 12 Aug after | 27.0 °C | 42 % | 49 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 29 |
| 13 Aug after | 27.9 °C | 35 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 38 |
| 14 Aug after | 24.1 °C | 41 % | 66 km/h | 1.2 mm | High 32 |
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 6 August 2021 the air beside the fire reached 103 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 46: 3.1 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 · 4,019Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Evia fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 3 August 2021 and 11 August 2021: 9 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 51,881 hectares (518.8 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Mantoudi-Limni-Agia Anna (30,754 ha, 52 %); Istiaia-Aidipsos (20,611 ha, 41 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.6 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 56 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 71, class Very extreme.
- 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
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 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.