Burned area
satellite only3,001ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- perimeter revised on 26 January 2022
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
BA · Bosnia & Herzegovina · –
Kalinovik fire, 18 March 2020 Kalinovik, Gacko, Nevesinje
Out · last detection 21 Mar 2020, 12:06 UTC
The fire started on 18 March 2020 in Kalinovik, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 3,001 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 11th largest in Republika Srpska since 2016 (of 391 with a page). Number 5 in Bosnia & Herzegovina in 2020, of 183.
The power measured by the satellite is low (19.2 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-24matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only6days
18 Mar 2020 to 23 Mar 2020: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 21 Mar 2020, 12:06 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only18 Mar 2020
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 18 Mar 2020
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only19
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 19 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 18 Mar 2020 – 23 Mar 2020
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only42MW
Total radiative power on 21 March 2020; hotspots that day: 8.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 21 Mar 2020
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model4.1FWI · very low
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 3.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 18 Mar 2020, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model14.2°C · 29% RH
High of 14.2 °C and minimum humidity of 29% on 20 March 2020; gusts of 75 km/h on 23 March 2020.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 18 Mar 2020 – 23 Mar 2020
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
· reconstructed perimeterEFFIS (Copernicus) revises the perimeter
What was saved on 24 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 3,001 ha
- Dates
- 18 Mar 2020 – 23 Mar 2020
- Name
- Kalinovik
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/kalinovik-2020-03-2?v=2026-10-24A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire kalinovik-2020-03-2.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-03-18 | 5 | 18 | 11.8 | -1.8 | 28 | 15.3 | 49 | 0 | 4.1 | muy_bajo | 1 |
| 2020-03-19 | 1 | 3 | 13.4 | -3.2 | 24 | 7.9 | 25.6 | 0 | 4 | muy_bajo | 1 |
| 2020-03-20 | 5 | 18 | 14.2 | -1.7 | 29 | 8.9 | 27 | 0 | 4.6 | muy_bajo | 1 |
| 2020-03-21 | 8 | 42 | 12.4 | 0.3 | 33 | 10.2 | 32 | 0 | 5.2 | muy_bajo | 1 |
| 2020-03-22 | 0 | 0 | 6.1 | -2.3 | 58 | 18.4 | 54 | 0.6 | 4 | muy_bajo | 1 |
| 2020-03-23 | 0 | 0 | -3.3 | -6.9 | 45 | 25 | 75.2 | 1.6 | 0.9 | muy_bajo | 1 |
| 2020-03-24 | 0 | 0 | -3 | -8.1 | 57 | 16.8 | 53.3 | 3.7 | 0.1 | muy_bajo | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: EFFIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 3,001ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 6days
- 18 Mar 2020 – 23 Mar 2020
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 18 Mar
- 2020
- Heat detections
- 19
- in a single hotspot: 19 MW
- Danger at start
- 4
- Very low · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 20MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
18 Mar23 Mar
21 Mar 2020
How it evolved, day by day
18 Mar
19 Mar
20 Mar
21 Mar
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
14°high
75km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity
It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.7 mm on 24 Mar.
This area had burned before
28% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 648 ha in 2016, 295 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 845 ha that had burned before.
- 342 ha Kalinovik fire, December 2016 342 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 139 ha Gacko fire, December 2016 414 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 121 ha Kalinovik fire, March 2019 851 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 120 ha Gacko fire, March 2019 120 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 88 ha Nevesinje fire, December 2016 228 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 54 ha Gacko fire, March 2019 430 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 51 ha Gacko fire, December 2016 1,233 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 28 ha Nevesinje fire, December 2016 595 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
Kalinovik where it started1,580 ha reached on 18 Mar2.4 %
-
1,026 ha reached on 18 Mar1.4 %
-
396 ha0.4 %
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 land85 %
- Broadleaved forest11 %
- Agricultural areas4.5 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2020Built-up area0.12 ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there were about 0.12 hectares of built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).
This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.
Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu
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 Mar | 11.8 °C | 28 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very low 4 |
| 19 Mar | 13.4 °C | 24 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very low 4 |
| 20 Mar | 14.2 °C | 29 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very low 5 |
| 21 Mar | 12.4 °C | 33 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very low 5 |
| 22 Mar | 6.1 °C | 58 % | 54 km/h | 0.6 mm | Very low 4 |
| 23 Mar | -3.3 °C | 45 % | 75 km/h | 1.6 mm | Very low 1 |
| 24 Mar after | -3.0 °C | 57 % | 53 km/h | 3.7 mm | Very low 0 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 4.1, a minimum humidity of 28% and 3 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 46.
FWI at the start
4.1
Minimum humidity
28 %
Days without rain
3
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Kalinovik fire, 18 March 2020
3,001 ha
6 days
FWI 4.1
Min. humidity 28 %
Bileća fire, March 2017
306 ha
2 days
FWI 4.3
Min. humidity 28 %
31 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 12.3 mm on 26 Mar.
Travnik fire, April 2024
367 ha
1 day
FWI 4.2
Min. humidity 28 %
121 km away, in 2024
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 17.7 mm on 16 Apr.
Nevesinje fire, February 2021
100 ha
1 day
FWI 3.6
Min. humidity 29 %
22 km away, in 2021
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.9 mm on 5 Mar.
Nevesinje fire, February 2021
225 ha
4 days
FWI 3.6
Min. humidity 29 %
22 km away, in 2021
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.9 mm on 5 Mar.
Nevesinje fire, February 2021
188 ha
1 day
FWI 4.0
Min. humidity 29 %
26 km away, in 2021
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.9 mm on 5 Mar.
What happened to them
- 3 days
- median duration
- 252 ha
- median area
- 11 %
- went past 1,000 ha
- 6.2 mm
- rain at the end (median; 44 of 46 had it)
It was 11.9 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 6 days, against 3 days.
None of its 46 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 2 of 46, 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 6.2 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
3.7 mmfirst rain
24 Marthe day after it ended
75km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 23 Mar, and on 24 Mar 3.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 44 of 46, with a median of 6.2 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.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 11 Mar 2020
After · 30 Mar 2020
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 · 19Every 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 time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 3,843 haKalinovikJanuary 2024 · 5 days · 8 km away
- 4,094 haNevesinje16 August 2026 · 47 days · 12 km away
- 2,545 haNevesinje7 August 2026 · 33 days · 21 km away
- 4,021 haBilećaAugust 2026 · 12 days · 30 km away
- 4,538 haIstočni MostarApril 2020 · 7 days · 36 km away
- 3,663 haBileća11 August 2025 · 11 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Kalinovik fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 18 March 2020 and 23 March 2020: 6 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 3,001 hectares (30.0 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Kalinovik (1,580 ha, 2.4 %); Gacko (1,026 ha, 1.4 %); Nevesinje (396 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 14.2 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 75 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 5, class Low.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Bosnia & Herzegovina (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: 46. Their median duration was 3 days and their median area 252 ha; 11 % went past 1,000 ha. None of its 46 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 2 of 46, 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 6.2 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: 123 · 112 · 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
How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 19 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.
- Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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 (Public Domain). 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.