How long did the Megara fire last?

Copernicus dates it between 20 July 2022 and 22 July 2022: 3 days between the first and last image with fire.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 244 hectares (2.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Megara (185 ha, 0.6 %); Mandra-Eidyllia (59 ha, 0.1 %).

Did the fire reach a town?

The closest fire to a town centre came within 23.4 km of Mandra-Eidyllia. 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 31 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, 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.

EL · Greece · 2022-07-20 → 2022-07-22

Megara fire, July 2022 Δημοτική Ενότητα ΜΕΓΑΡΕΩΝ · Megara, Mandra-Eidyllia

Out · last detection 22 Jul 2022, 10:31 UTC

The fire started on 20 July 2022 in Megara, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 244 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 25th largest in Attica since 2016 (of 33 with a page). Number 14 in Greece in 2022, of 29.

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: 244ha; Copernicus perimeter
Duration: 3days; 20 Jul 2022 – 22 Jul 2022
Municipalities hit: 2; municipalities
Started on: 20 Jul; 2022
Heat detections: 2; in a single hotspot: 7 MW
Danger at start: 36; High · FWI index
Energy released: 13MW; sum of detected power

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Jul22 Jul

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

32°high

52km/h · peak gust

31%lowest humidity

It had gone 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

2% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 4 ha in 2021.

4 ha Gerania fire, May 2021 7,005 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire

What happened to each town

Megara Δημοτική Ενότητα ΜΕΓΑΡΕΩΝ 25,174 inhabitants where it started

185 ha

0.6 %
Mandra-Eidyllia Δημοτική Ενότητα Μάνδρας Αττικής 11,075 inhabitants · 23.4 km from the town

59 ha reached on 22 Jul

0.1 %

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 areas79 %
Scrub and transitional woodland18 %
Coniferous forest2.9 %

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	Danger (FWI)
20 Jul	26.4 °C	36 %	52 km/h	High 36
21 Jul	29.8 °C	34 %	35 km/h	High 30
22 Jul	31.9 °C	31 %	22 km/h	High 26
23 Jul after	32.3 °C	31 %	30 km/h	High 29
24 Jul after	33.9 °C	27 %	24 km/h	High 30
25 Jul after	31.9 °C	37 %	31 km/h	High 32
26 Jul after	31.5 °C	41 %	25 km/h	High 30
27 Jul after	32.0 °C	39 %	25 km/h	High 30
28 Jul after	31.6 °C	33 %	41 km/h	High 36
29 Jul after	30.1 °C	38 %	44 km/h	Very high 39
30 Jul after	31.1 °C	36 %	36 km/h	High 36
31 Jul after	31.2 °C	46 %	23 km/h	High 27
1 Aug after	29.5 °C	49 %	26 km/h	High 27

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 13 Jul 2022

After · 29 Jul 2022

Before After

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 25 July 2022 the air beside the fire reached 19 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 16: 1.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak19 µg/m³

Days over the guideline1 day

PM1033 µg/m³

WHO 15

1819202122232425

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 · 2Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Greece ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Megara fire last?: Copernicus dates it between 20 July 2022 and 22 July 2022: 3 days between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 244 hectares (2.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Megara (185 ha, 0.6 %); Mandra-Eidyllia (59 ha, 0.1 %).
Did the fire reach a town?: The closest fire to a town centre came within 23.4 km of Mandra-Eidyllia. 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 31 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 36, 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

NASA FIRMS ↗
EFFIS · Copernicus ↗

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?

Dates or duration Place or towns Burned area Name It was not a wildfire Same fire as another page Something else

What really happened?

Your connection to the fire (optional) Email (optional)

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.

Where it burned