Gallodoro fire, July 2021 Gallodoro, Forza d'Agrò, Letojanni
The fire started on 29 July 2021 in Gallodoro, Italy, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 222 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 34th largest in Messina since 2016 (of 70 with a page). Number 135 in Italy in 2021, of 291.
The power measured by the satellite is low (19.1 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
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- Burnt area
- 222ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 4days
- 29 Jul 2021 – 1 Aug 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 29 Jul
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 14
- in a single hotspot: 19 MW
- Danger at start
- 22
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 39MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 10 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
-
169 ha reached on 30 Jul24 %
-
39 ha reached on 31 Jul3.5 %
-
Letojanni 2,842 inhabitants · 0.6 km from the town14 ha2.1 %
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 areas72 %
- Other natural land18 %
- Broadleaved forest9.9 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Jul | 32.7 °C | 35 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 30 Jul | 34.6 °C | 32 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 31 Jul | 32.4 °C | 37 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 1 Aug | 35.2 °C | 31 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 2 Aug after | 29.6 °C | 57 % | 32 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 3 Aug after | 30.0 °C | 47 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 4 Aug after | 33.6 °C | 37 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 5 Aug after | 28.5 °C | 63 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 6 Aug after | 27.3 °C | 47 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 7 Aug after | 28.9 °C | 46 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 8 Aug after | 30.5 °C | 50 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 9 Aug after | 31.4 °C | 45 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 10 Aug after | 33.9 °C | 30 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 11 Aug after | 34.6 °C | 32 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 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 30 July 2021 the air beside the fire reached 43 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 27: 1.8 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 · 14Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 1,371 haMongiuffi MeliaAugust 2026 · 4 days · 4 km away
- 2,005 haSanta Domenica VittoriaJuly 2021 · 4 days · 31 km away
- 1,331 haPattiJuly 2023 · 2 days · 34 km away
- 1,156 haRandazzoAugust 2019 · 2 days · 34 km away
- 1,119 haPattiJune 2017 · 3 days · 36 km away
- 3,114 haMotta San GiovanniJuly 2023 · 6 days · 37 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Gallodoro fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 29 July 2021 and 1 August 2021: 4 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 222 hectares (2.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Gallodoro (169 ha, 24 %); Forza d'Agrò (39 ha, 3.5 %); Letojanni (14 ha, 2.1 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.3 km of Gallodoro. 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 35.2 °C, humidity dropped to 31 % and gusts hit 28 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, class High.
- 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.
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How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 14 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.
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.