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Irsina fire, August 2026 Irsina

Out · last detection 18 Oct 2026, 11:40 UTC

The fire started on 18 August 2026 in Irsina, Italy, and satellites saw it burning for 62 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 124 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 22th largest in Matera since 2016 (of 30 with a page). Number 179 in Italy in 2026, of 232.

The power measured by the satellite is low (6.5 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Praia a Mare · 2025Plataci · 2023Irsina · 2025Gravina in Puglia · 2021

Burnt area
124ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
≈ 62days
18 Aug 2026 – 18 Oct 2026
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
18 Aug
2026
Heat detections
1
in a single hotspot: 6 MW
Danger at start
11
Low · FWI index
Average daily power
6MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 18 Aug18 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

18 Oct 2026 · 6 MW · 1

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

The weather it burned in

41°high
60km/h · peak gust
17%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.6 mm on 21 Oct.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Irsina 4,449 inhabitants · 3.9 km from the centre where it started
    125 ha reached on 18 Oct
    0.5 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

What burned

  • Other natural land59 %
  • Agricultural areas41 %

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)
18 Aug 30.7 °C 45 % 33 km/h 0.3 mm Low 11
19 Aug 33.5 °C 28 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
20 Aug 34.3 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
21 Aug 35.1 °C 25 % 29 km/h 0.3 mm High 38
22 Aug 33.9 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
23 Aug 34.0 °C 34 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
24 Aug 33.5 °C 32 % 26 km/h 0.1 mm High 34
25 Aug 36.3 °C 21 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
26 Aug 36.6 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Aug 38.2 °C 28 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Aug 41.4 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.3 mm Extreme 51
29 Aug 38.7 °C 20 % 46 km/h 1.5 mm Extreme 60
30 Aug 38.8 °C 22 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
31 Aug 35.5 °C 34 % 27 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 44
1 Sept 34.9 °C 33 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
2 Sept 34.9 °C 33 % 26 km/h 1.0 mm Very high 43
3 Sept 31.5 °C 31 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Sept 33.2 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
5 Sept 36.1 °C 20 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
6 Sept 34.6 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
7 Sept 33.6 °C 31 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
8 Sept 32.7 °C 33 % 20 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 40
9 Sept 33.2 °C 30 % 24 km/h 1.3 mm Very high 38
10 Sept 33.4 °C 32 % 38 km/h 0.8 mm High 35
11 Sept 31.1 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.6 mm High 32
12 Sept 27.1 °C 46 % 29 km/h 5.5 mm High 26
13 Sept 26.0 °C 29 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
14 Sept 26.9 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
15 Sept 26.1 °C 45 % 41 km/h 3.4 mm High 33
16 Sept 28.4 °C 29 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
17 Sept 29.8 °C 27 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
18 Sept 29.0 °C 34 % 22 km/h 0.9 mm High 28
19 Sept 29.1 °C 41 % 24 km/h 9.4 mm Moderate 17
20 Sept 27.8 °C 50 % 23 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 2
21 Sept 27.7 °C 39 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
22 Sept 23.0 °C 34 % 47 km/h 0.3 mm High 29
23 Sept 20.8 °C 32 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
24 Sept 24.7 °C 24 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
25 Sept 21.3 °C 43 % 50 km/h 2.7 mm Low 10
26 Sept 20.2 °C 44 % 47 km/h 0.3 mm High 22
27 Sept 23.9 °C 39 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
28 Sept 24.7 °C 33 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
29 Sept 24.0 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
30 Sept 24.4 °C 33 % 30 km/h 0.1 mm High 26
1 Oct 25.0 °C 33 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
2 Oct 24.4 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
3 Oct 24.1 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
4 Oct 24.3 °C 27 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
5 Oct 24.7 °C 21 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
6 Oct 24.1 °C 34 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
7 Oct 24.8 °C 44 % 31 km/h 0.4 mm High 26
8 Oct 27.1 °C 37 % 36 km/h 1.5 mm High 26
9 Oct 22.6 °C 47 % 35 km/h 3.9 mm Moderate 11
10 Oct 20.7 °C 62 % 35 km/h 21.0 mm Very low 3
11 Oct 19.4 °C 56 % 56 km/h 1.0 mm Very low 4
12 Oct 21.0 °C 47 % 22 km/h 10.7 mm Very low 3
13 Oct 17.7 °C 44 % 60 km/h 0.2 mm Very low 3
14 Oct 17.4 °C 32 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
15 Oct 21.6 °C 41 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
16 Oct 20.7 °C 42 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
17 Oct 19.9 °C 26 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
18 Oct 21.1 °C 32 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
19 Oct after 21.7 °C 36 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
20 Oct after 21.7 °C 51 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
21 Oct after 19.3 °C 69 % 56 km/h 1.6 mm Low 8

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 11.1, a minimum humidity of 45% and rain the day before. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 27.

FWI at the start 11.1
Minimum humidity 45 %
Days without rain 0
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Praia a Mare fire, August 2025
135 ha 5 days FWI 10.7 Min. humidity 45 % 100 km away, in 2025

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.3 mm on 22 Aug.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

2 days
median duration
160 ha
median area
0 %
went past 1,000 ha
1.6 mm
rain at the end (median; 24 of 27 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (124 ha against a median of 160 ha) and lasted 62 days, against 2 days.

In 3 of 27, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.6 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

1.6 mmfirst rain
21 Oct3 days after it ended
60km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 18 Oct, and on 21 Oct 1.6 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 24 of 27, with a median of 1.6 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 11 Aug 2026
After · 25 Oct 2026

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 16 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 12 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak12 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1021 µg/m³
Optical depth0.49
16 Aug18 Aug20 Aug
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 · 1Every 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 Italy

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Irsina fire last?
The official perimeter only gives the start date (18 August 2026). The end comes from the heat detections inside the perimeter: it burned until 18 October 2026 (62 days from 18 August 2026), the last day with detections before more than 10 days in a row without any, so it is approximate.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 124 hectares (1.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Irsina (125 ha, 0.5 %).
Is the Irsina fire still active?
No fire detections since 18 Oct 2026, 11:40 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Irsina and came within 3.9 km of its centre. That is the distance from the perimeter, or the nearest hotspot, to the point marking the centre; it does not mean it entered the houses.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 41.4 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 60 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 27. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 160 ha; 0 % went past 1,000 ha. In 3 of 27, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.6 mm.

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 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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 · 1515.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • The official perimeter has no end date: the end is the last day with VIIRS detections inside the perimeter before a gap of more than 10 days (150 days at most), so it is approximate. One Suomi-NPP VIIRS detection 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.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.