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Kostiantynivka fire, 20 June 2024 Костянтинівський район · Kostiantynivka

Out · last detection 1 Jul 2024, 22:34 UTC

The fire started on 20 June 2024 in Kostiantynivka, Ukraine, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 401 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 159th largest in Donetsk Oblast since 2016 (of 1004 with a page). Number 409 in Ukraine in 2024, of 2092.

The power measured by the satellite is low (6.7 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
401ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
11days
20 Jun 2024 – 30 Jun 2024
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
20 Jun
2024
Heat detections
43
in a single hotspot: 7 MW
Danger at start
41
Very high · FWI index
Average daily power
8MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Jun30 Jun
1 Jul 2024

How it evolved, day by day

20 Jun 2024 · 3 MW · 3 21 Jun 2024 · 2 MW · 3 22 Jun 2024 · 4 MW · 2 23 Jun 2024 · 14 MW · 5 24 Jun 2024 · 10 MW · 7 25 Jun 2024 · 20 MW · 8 27 Jun 2024 · 3 MW · 3 28 Jun 2024 · 2 MW · 3 29 Jun 2024 · 14 MW · 6 30 Jun 2024 · 3 MW · 1 1 Jul 2024 · 7 MW · 2
20 Jun 25 Jun 30 Jun

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

The weather it burned in

33°high
60km/h · peak gust
26%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 9 Jul.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Kostiantynivka Костянтинівський район 21.2 km from the centre where it started
    400 ha reached on 20 Jun
    0.3 %

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

  • Artificial surfaces36 %
  • Mixed forest30 %
  • Other natural land17 %
  • Agricultural areas16 %

Land cover inside the perimeter as reported by Copernicus EFFIS (outside the Corine Land Cover area).

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)

Started with Strong wind: 20 % of the area in Ukraine

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
20 Jun 32.6 °C 26 % 56 km/h 2.9 mm Very high 41
21 Jun 23.8 °C 36 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
22 Jun 27.3 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
23 Jun 29.1 °C 34 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
24 Jun 27.8 °C 40 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
25 Jun 22.5 °C 44 % 44 km/h 1.9 mm High 31
26 Jun 24.5 °C 35 % 48 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 16
27 Jun 24.6 °C 38 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
28 Jun 26.8 °C 34 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
29 Jun 28.6 °C 30 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
30 Jun 30.5 °C 31 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
1 Jul after 32.2 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
2 Jul after 34.5 °C 16 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
3 Jul after 35.2 °C 16 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
4 Jul after 33.2 °C 20 % 41 km/h 0.1 mm Extreme 66
5 Jul after 36.3 °C 19 % 29 km/h 0.3 mm Very high 49
6 Jul after 30.5 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
7 Jul after 31.0 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Jul after 36.5 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.5 mm Very high 39
9 Jul after 33.6 °C 31 % 40 km/h 1.3 mm High 37

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 40.6, a minimum humidity of 26% and 1 day without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 47.

FWI at the start 40.6
Minimum humidity 26 %
Days without rain 1
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Kostiantynivka fire, August 2025
120 ha 7 days FWI 39.6 Min. humidity 26 % 5 km away, in 2025

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.7 mm on 8 Sept.

What happened to them

2 days
median duration
165 ha
median area
2 %
went past 1,000 ha
5.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 35 of 47 had it)

It was 2.4 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 11 days, against 2 days.

Only 9 of its 47 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 12 of 47, 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 5.2 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

1.3 mmfirst rain
9 Jul9 days after it ended
60km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 30 Jun, and on 9 Jul 1.3 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 35 of 47, with a median of 5.2 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.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 13 Jun 2024
After · 7 Jul 2024

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 4 July 2024 the air beside the fire reached 42 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 21: 1.4 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak42 µg/m³
Days over the guideline2 days
PM1072 µg/m³
Optical depth0.43
18 Jun22 Jun26 Jun30 Jun4 Jul
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 · 43Every 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 Ukraine

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kostiantynivka fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 20 June 2024 to 30 June 2024 (11 days). The perimeter dates it from 21 June 2024 to 23 June 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 401 hectares (4.0 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Kostiantynivka (400 ha, 0.3 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Kostiantynivka and came within 21.2 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 32.6 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 60 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Ukraine (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: 47. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 165 ha; 2 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 9 of its 47 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 12 of 47, 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 5.2 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: 101 · 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.

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 101 · 112.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 21 June 2024 to 23 June 2024. 43 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.

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 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.