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RS · Serbia · –

Kucevo Municipality fire, 19 August 2024 Кучево · Kucevo Municipality

Out · last detection 30 Aug 2024, 00:11 UTC

The fire started on 19 August 2024 in Kucevo Municipality, Serbia, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 241 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 20th largest in Braničevski upravni okrug since 2016 (of 35 with a page). Number 35 in Serbia in 2024, of 82.

The power measured by the satellite is low (6.3 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
241ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
12days
19 Aug 2024 – 30 Aug 2024
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
19 Aug
2024
Heat detections
20
in a single hotspot: 6 MW
Danger at start
53
Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
8MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 19 Aug30 Aug
30 Aug 2024

How it evolved, day by day

22 Aug 2024 · 1 MW · 1 24 Aug 2024 · 8 MW · 5 25 Aug 2024 · 11 MW · 5 26 Aug 2024 · 24 MW · 5 28 Aug 2024 · 3 MW · 3 30 Aug 2024 · 1 MW · 1
22 Aug 26 Aug

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
46km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 15 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 31 Aug.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Kucevo Municipality Кучево 11,806 inhabitants · 13.8 km from the centre where it started
    241 ha reached on 22 Aug
    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

  • Broadleaved forest77 %
  • Scrub and transitional woodland20 %
  • Other natural land2.5 %

Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)

Started with Extreme FWI: 11 % of the area in Serbia

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
19 Aug 32.3 °C 18 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
20 Aug 25.2 °C 45 % 31 km/h 5.9 mm Very low 1
21 Aug 29.6 °C 36 % 28 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 13
22 Aug 28.5 °C 35 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
23 Aug 31.5 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
24 Aug 32.5 °C 27 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
25 Aug 33.2 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
26 Aug 32.3 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 40
27 Aug 25.8 °C 49 % 20 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 18
28 Aug 28.6 °C 38 % 22 km/h 0.5 mm High 21
29 Aug 30.5 °C 32 % 27 km/h 4.7 mm High 30
30 Aug 27.3 °C 41 % 34 km/h 2.0 mm Very low 4
31 Aug after 30.0 °C 32 % 28 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 19

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 52.6, a minimum humidity of 18% and 15 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 17.

FWI at the start 52.6
Minimum humidity 18 %
Days without rain 15
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Malo Crnice Municipality fire, September 2026
135 ha 8 days FWI 51.4 Min. humidity 18 % 39 km away, in 2026

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.0 mm on 11 Sept.

What happened to them

4 days
median duration
269 ha
median area
6 %
went past 1,000 ha
1.6 mm
rain at the end (median; 14 of 17 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (241 ha against a median of 269 ha) and lasted 12 days, against 4 days.

In 3 of 17, 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

1.4 mmfirst rain
31 Augthe day after it ended
46km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 30 Aug, and on 31 Aug 1.4 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 14 of 17, 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 · 12 Aug 2024
After · 6 Sept 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 6 September 2024 the air beside the fire reached 21 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 17: 1.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak21 µg/m³
Days over the guideline2 days
PM1045 µg/m³
Optical depth0.86
20 Aug24 Aug28 Aug1 Sept5 Sept
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 · 20Every 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 Serbia

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Kucevo Municipality fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 19 August 2024 to 30 August 2024 (12 days). The perimeter dates it from 25 August 2024 to 26 August 2024.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 241 hectares (2.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Kucevo Municipality (241 ha, 0.3 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Kucevo Municipality and came within 13.8 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 33.2 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 53, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Serbia (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: 17. Their median duration was 4 days and their median area 269 ha; 6 % went past 1,000 ha. In 3 of 17, 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: 193 · 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 193 · 112.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 25 August 2024 to 26 August 2024. 20 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 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

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 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.