Goris fire, August 2021 Armenia
The fire started on 9 August 2021 in Goris, Armenia, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 352 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 44th largest in Syunik since 2016 (of 52 with a page). Number 6 in Armenia in 2021, of 7.
The power measured by the satellite is low (5.0 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 352ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 3days
- 9 Aug 2021 – 11 Aug 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 0
- municipalities
- Started on
- 9 Aug
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 5
- in a single hotspot: 5 MW
- Danger at start
- 7
- Low · FWI index
- Energy released
- 20MW
- 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 12 Aug.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Aug | 24.9 °C | 44 % | 28 km/h | 0.8 mm | Low 7 |
| 10 Aug | 24.3 °C | 49 % | 30 km/h | 0.6 mm | Low 9 |
| 11 Aug | 23.8 °C | 42 % | 40 km/h | 2.9 mm | Very low 3 |
| 12 Aug after | 23.2 °C | 42 % | 27 km/h | 1.0 mm | Very 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.
Detections table · 5Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 2,573 haLachin DistrictSeptember 2017 · 5 days · 17 km away
- 2,740 haGoris3 October 2022 · 4 days · 24 km away
- 4,229 haKhoda Afarin21 June 2021 · 11 days · 28 km away
- 3,191 haKhoda AfarinAugust 2019 · 3 days · 36 km away
- 6,490 haSisian27 November 2025 · 6 days · 37 km away
- 6,870 haSisian28 September 2022 · 9 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Goris fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 August 2021 and 11 August 2021: 3 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 352 hectares (3.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 24.9 °C, humidity dropped to 42 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 9, class Low.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Armenia (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: 911 · 112
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 comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. 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 ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.