Megara fire, June 2016 Δημοτική Ενότητα ΜΕΓΑΡΕΩΝ · Megara
The fire started on 13 June 2016 in Megara, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 387 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 21th largest in Attica since 2016 (of 33 with a page). Number 17 in Greece in 2016, of 33.
- Burnt area
- 387ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 13 Jun 2016 – 13 Jun 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 13 Jun
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 4
- in a single hotspot: 1 MW
- Danger at start
- 19
- Moderate · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone 5 days 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
-
387 ha reached on 15 Jun1.2 %
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 land78 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland17 %
- Agricultural areas4.9 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Jun | 23.4 °C | 50 % | 32 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 14 Jun after | 23.1 °C | 42 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 15 Jun after | 24.8 °C | 40 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 16 Jun after | 27.2 °C | 36 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 17 Jun after | 30.4 °C | 29 % | 18 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 18 Jun after | 31.3 °C | 31 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 19 Jun after | 31.5 °C | 27 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 20 Jun after | 30.2 °C | 38 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 21 Jun after | 28.5 °C | 44 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 22 Jun after | 29.1 °C | 38 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 23 Jun after | 28.5 °C | 41 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
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 13 June 2016 the air beside the fire reached 14 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)
Detections table · 4Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 10,175 haVilia Δημοτική Ενότητα Μάνδρας ΑττικήςAugust 2021 · 8 days · 5 km away
- 13,192 haMandra-Eidyllia Δημοτική Ενότητα Μάνδρας Αττικής31 July 2026 · 1 day · 8 km away
- 11,662 haDervenochoria Δημοτική Ενότητα Μάνδρας ΑττικήςJuly 2023 · 7 days · 13 km away
- 7,005 haGerania Δημοτική Ενότητα ΜΕΓΑΡΕΩΝMay 2021 · 5 days · 16 km away
- 5,568 haKineta Δημοτική Ενότητα ΜΕΓΑΡΕΩΝJuly 2018 · 3 days · 17 km away
- 6,057 haAspropyrgos ΑσπροπύργουAugust 2023 · 6 days · 28 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Megara fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 13 June 2016 and 13 June 2016: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 387 hectares (3.9 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Megara (387 ha, 1.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 23.4 °C, humidity dropped to 50 % and gusts hit 32 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 19, class Moderate.
- 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
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.