Francofonte fire, July 2026 Francofonte, Vizzini
The fire started on 22 July 2026 in Francofonte, Italy, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 1,626 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the largest fire in Siracusa since 2016 (of 57 with a page). Number 8 in Italy in 2026, of 231.
- Burnt area
- 1,626ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 22 Jul 2026 – 22 Jul 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 22 Jul
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 43
- in a single hotspot: 48 MW
- Danger at start
- 70
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 336MW
- 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: 7.4 mm on 28 Jul.
This area had burned before
33% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 18 ha in 2017, 266 ha in 2018, 478 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 539 ha that had burned before.
- 477 ha Francofonte fire, July 2021 526 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 266 ha Francofonte fire, June 2018 278 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 18 ha Francofonte fire, July 2017 212 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
852 ha reached on 22 Jul12 %
-
Vizzini 5,702 inhabitants · 3.2 km from the town777 ha reached on 22 Jul6.2 %
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 areas60 %
- Mixed forest22 %
- Other natural land14 %
- Broadleaved forest4.7 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Jul | 43.2 °C | 8 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 70 |
| 23 Jul after | 35.5 °C | 33 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 24 Jul after | 36.0 °C | 15 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 25 Jul after | 32.5 °C | 23 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 26 Jul after | 32.3 °C | 32 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 27 Jul after | 36.3 °C | 23 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 28 Jul after | 30.1 °C | 55 % | 41 km/h | 7.4 mm | Low 5 |
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 25 July 2026 the air beside the fire reached 50 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 19: 1.3 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 · 43Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 1,602 haCarlentiniJuly 2026 · 1 day · 16 km away
- 1,868 haMonterosso AlmoAugust 2021 · 2 days · 22 km away
- 1,329 haChiaramonte GulfiJune 2017 · 4 days · 23 km away
- 1,525 haAugustaJuly 2023 · 2 days · 27 km away
- 1,098 haMelilli24 July 2023 · 5 days · 31 km away
- 1,244 haNiscemiJuly 2025 · 4 days · 33 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Francofonte fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 22 July 2026 and 22 July 2026: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 1,626 hectares (16.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Francofonte (852 ha, 12 %); Vizzini (777 ha, 6.2 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 3.2 km of Vizzini. 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 43.2 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 70, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Italy (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 · 1515
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 ADM4 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License). 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.