Skip to content
worldfires
EL · Greece · →

Kos fire, September 2021 δημοτική ενότητα Κω · Kos

Out · last measured on 3 Sept 2021

The fire started on 3 September 2021 in Kos, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 111 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 24th largest in South Aegean since 2016 (of 25 with a page). Number 40 in Greece in 2021, of 45.

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
111ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
3 Sept 2021 – 3 Sept 2021
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
3 Sept
2021
Danger at start
37
High · FWI index
Natura 2000
76%
of the perimeter is protected land

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

25°high
64km/h · peak gust
55%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Kos δημοτική ενότητα Κω 16,435 inhabitants where it started
    112 ha
    0.4 %

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

  • Sclerophyllous scrub94 %
  • Agricultural areas6.4 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 76 %

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)
3 Sept 25.0 °C 55 % 64 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
4 Sept after 23.9 °C 67 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
5 Sept after 24.0 °C 66 % 64 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
6 Sept after 23.8 °C 67 % 59 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
7 Sept after 23.8 °C 77 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
8 Sept after 23.2 °C 78 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
9 Sept after 22.4 °C 75 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
10 Sept after 22.1 °C 76 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
11 Sept after 22.7 °C 65 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
12 Sept after 22.8 °C 68 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
13 Sept after 22.5 °C 71 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 27 Aug 2021
After · 10 Sept 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 1 September 2021 the air beside the fire reached 15 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak15 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1036 µg/m³
123456
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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Greece ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kos fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 3 September 2021 and 3 September 2021: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 111 hectares (1.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Kos (112 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 25.0 °C, humidity dropped to 55 % and gusts hit 64 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 37, 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.