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Gerania fire, May 2021 Γεράνεια · Megara, Loutraki-Agioi Theodoroi

Out · last detection 22 May 2021, 11:58 UTC

The fire started on 19 May 2021 in Megara, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 7,005 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 6th largest in Attica since 2016 (of 33 with a page). Number 6 in Greece in 2021, of 45.

Burnt area
7,005ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
5days
19 May 2021 – 23 May 2021
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
19 May
2021
Heat detections
392
in a single hotspot: 777 MW
Danger at start
37
High · FWI index
Energy released
10.4GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

22 May 2021
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 May23 May

How it evolved, day by day

19202122

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

The weather it burned in

26°high
93km/h · peak gust
14%lowest humidity

It had gone 24 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 30 May.

This area had burned before

1% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 72 ha in 2018.

What happened to each town

  1. Megara Δημοτική Ενότητα ΜΕΓΑΡΕΩΝ 25,174 inhabitants
    4,989 ha reached on 19 May
    16 %
  2. Loutraki-Agioi Theodoroi Λουτρακίου - Περαχώρας - Αγίων Θεοδώρων where it started
    2,029 ha reached on 19 May
    6.7 %

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

  • Coniferous forest61 %
  • Agricultural areas20 %
  • Scrub and transitional woodland15 %
  • Sclerophyllous scrub3.0 %
  • Other natural land0.6 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 15 %

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 30 September 2026

We checked this page against 4 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:

Also known as
Φωτιά στα Γεράνεια Όρη · Φωτιά στο Λουτράκι · Φωτιά στον Σχίνο Λουτρακίου
Official area reported: 7,131 ha (the satellite measured 7,005 ha)

Sources

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)
19 May 25.0 °C 14 % 74 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
20 May 21.6 °C 33 % 91 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
21 May 20.9 °C 28 % 93 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
22 May 22.9 °C 29 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
23 May 26.5 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
24 May after 31.3 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
25 May after 31.9 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
26 May after 30.4 °C 28 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
27 May after 26.5 °C 33 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
28 May after 24.7 °C 29 % 65 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 May after 25.6 °C 29 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
30 May after 23.5 °C 42 % 30 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 14

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 May 2021
After · 30 May 2021

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 20 May 2021 the air beside the fire reached 25 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 17: 1.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak25 µg/m³
Days over the guideline1 day
PM1044 µg/m³
17181920212223242526
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 · 392Every 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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Greece ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Gerania fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 19 May 2021 and 23 May 2021: 5 days between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 7,005 hectares (70.0 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Megara (4,989 ha, 16 %); Loutraki-Agioi Theodoroi (2,029 ha, 6.7 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 26.5 °C, humidity dropped to 14 % and gusts hit 93 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class High.
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.