Karnobat fire, July 2023 Карнобат · Karnobat
The fire started on 17 July 2023 in Karnobat, Bulgaria, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 181 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 26th largest in Burgas since 2016 (of 33 with a page). Number 18 in Bulgaria in 2023, of 25.
Compare with…
We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.
- Burnt area
- 181ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 17 Jul 2023 – 17 Jul 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 17 Jul
- 2023
- Danger at start
- 15
- Moderate · FWI index
- Natura 2000
- 3%
- of the perimeter is protected land
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 20 Jul.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
181 ha0.2 %
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
- Other natural land85 %
- Agricultural areas15 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 3 %
- LIC Reka Mochuritsa BG0000196
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.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Jul | 31.1 °C | 44 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 18 Jul after | 31.9 °C | 44 % | 22 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 19 Jul after | 33.4 °C | 37 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 20 Jul after | 32.0 °C | 43 % | 26 km/h | 1.4 mm | Low 11 |
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 15 July 2023 the air beside the fire reached 20 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO 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)
Other fires nearby
- 427 haKarnobat КарнобатAugust 2025 · 2 days · 3 km away
- 1,636 haSungurlare СунгурлареAugust 2025 · 4 days · 25 km away
- 375 haKotel КотелAugust 2019 · 1 day · 34 km away
- 378 haTundzha ТунджаJuly 2025 · 1 day · 35 km away
- 608 haSredets Средец18 August 2023 · 3 days · 36 km away
- 514 haBurgas Бургас14 August 2023 · 3 days · 37 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Karnobat fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 17 July 2023 and 17 July 2023: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 181 hectares (1.8 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Karnobat (181 ha, 0.2 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.4 km of Karnobat. 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 31.1 °C, humidity dropped to 44 % and gusts hit 33 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 15, class Moderate.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Bulgaria (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
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. No 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 ADM2 (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.