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Farsala fire, July 2023 δημοτική ενότητα Φαρσάλων · Farsala

Out · last measured on 27 Jul 2023

The fire started on 26 July 2023 in Farsala, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 450 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 6th largest in Thessaly since 2016 (of 18 with a page). Number 22 in Greece in 2023, of 34.

We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
450ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
2days
26 Jul 2023 – 27 Jul 2023
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
26 Jul
2023
Danger at start
65
Extreme · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

41°high
55km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Farsala δημοτική ενότητα Φαρσάλων 10,582 inhabitants where it started
    451 ha
    0.6 %

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

  • Sclerophyllous scrub56 %
  • Other natural land25 %
  • Agricultural areas19 %

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)
26 Jul 41.1 °C 19 % 55 km/h 0.2 mm Extreme 65
27 Jul 35.9 °C 18 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
28 Jul after 34.6 °C 25 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
29 Jul after 35.2 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
30 Jul after 37.1 °C 22 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
31 Jul after 35.2 °C 26 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Aug after 34.4 °C 34 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
2 Aug after 37.7 °C 21 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
3 Aug after 39.2 °C 17 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
4 Aug after 38.9 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
5 Aug after 38.4 °C 22 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Aug after 32.7 °C 27 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 19 Jul 2023
After · 3 Aug 2023

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 26 July 2023 the air beside the fire reached 20 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 15: 1.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak20 µg/m³
Days over the guideline1 day
PM1064 µg/m³
Optical depth0.56
24252627282930
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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Greece ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Farsala fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 26 July 2023 and 27 July 2023: 2 days between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 450 hectares (4.5 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Farsala (451 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 41.1 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 65, class 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
What do you think is wrong?

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.