Lyubimets fire, August 2016 Любимец · Lyubimets, Harmanli, Svilengrad
The fire started on 20 August 2016 in Lyubimets, Bulgaria, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 1,168 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 9th largest in Haskovo since 2016 (of 46 with a page). Number 2 in Bulgaria in 2016, of 24.
The power measured by the satellite is low (17.8 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
- 1,168ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 3days
- 20 Aug 2016 – 22 Aug 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 20 Aug
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 24
- in a single hotspot: 18 MW
- Danger at start
- 35
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 108MW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 9.2 mm on 23 Aug.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
708 ha reached on 20 Aug2.1 %
-
459 ha reached on 20 Aug0.7 %
-
4 ha0.0 %
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
- Agricultural areas64 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland18 %
- Mixed forest11 %
- Other natural land3.9 %
- Broadleaved forest2.6 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 100 %
- ZEPA + LIC Sakar BG0000212 · BG0002021
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Aug | 29.3 °C | 37 % | 44 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 35 |
| 21 Aug | 31.4 °C | 32 % | 45 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 35 |
| 22 Aug | 31.9 °C | 35 % | 42 km/h | 10.3 mm | Low 7 |
| 23 Aug after | 28.2 °C | 42 % | 37 km/h | 9.2 mm | Very low 4 |
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 23 August 2016 the air beside the fire reached 26 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 16: 1.0 times the WHO daily 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)
Detections table · 24Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 1,446 haHarmanli ХарманлиJune 2024 · 2 days · 1 km away
- 1,374 haSvilengrad СвиленградAugust 2023 · 2 days · 8 km away
- 2,719 haHarmanli ХарманлиAugust 2025 · 5 days · 10 km away
- 8,124 haSvilengrad Свиленград13 July 2024 · 4 days · 15 km away
- 1,531 haTopolovgrad ТополовградSeptember 2020 · 2 days · 24 km away
- 7,848 haElhovo ЕлховоJuly 2025 · 6 days · 28 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Lyubimets fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 20 August 2016 and 22 August 2016: 3 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 1,168 hectares (11.7 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Lyubimets (708 ha, 2.1 %); Harmanli (459 ha, 0.7 %); Svilengrad (4 ha, 0.0 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 11.0 km of Lyubimets. 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 31.9 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, class High.
- 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
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.