Ogliastro fire, August 2017 Sisco, Olcani, Pietracorbara
The fire started on 11 August 2017 in Ogliastro, France, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 1,487 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 5 municipalities.
It is the 3th largest in Haute-Corse since 2016 (of 27 with a page). Number 5 in France in 2017, of 27.
- Burnt area
- 1,487ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 3days
- 11 Aug 2017 – 13 Aug 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 5
- communes
- Started on
- 11 Aug
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 67
- in a single hotspot: 49 MW
- Danger at start
- 30
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 631MW
- 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 43 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
-
Sisco 1,182 inhabitants · 0.2 km from the town742 ha reached on 12 Aug30 %
-
Olcani 96 inhabitants · 0.3 km from the town412 ha reached on 11 Aug29 %
-
Pietracorbara 652 inhabitants · 1.5 km from the town240 ha reached on 12 Aug9.2 %
-
Nonza 62 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the town64 ha reached on 11 Aug7.5 %
-
31 ha reached on 11 Aug3.3 %
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 land91 %
- Sclerophyllous scrub4.9 %
- Broadleaved forest2.3 %
- Agricultural areas1.4 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
Official record
According to BDIFF, a fire of 1,617 ha was recorded in Nonza on 11 August 2017 (the satellite measured 1,487 ha). The record has no coordinates, so it was matched by municipality and date.
- Nonza 11 August 2017 · 00:45 1,617 ha · cause: arson
BDIFF (Base de Données sur les Incendies de Forêts en France). This is the agency’s consolidated statistic: it measures the area in its own way, which is why it can differ from the satellite.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Aug | 19.9 °C | 48 % | 68 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 12 Aug | 20.8 °C | 46 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 13 Aug | 22.1 °C | 46 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 14 Aug after | 22.6 °C | 57 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 15 Aug after | 23.4 °C | 50 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 16 Aug after | 23.3 °C | 54 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 17 Aug after | 23.9 °C | 56 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 18 Aug after | 24.4 °C | 59 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 19 Aug after | 24.1 °C | 53 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 20 Aug after | 22.7 °C | 54 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 21 Aug after | 21.8 °C | 47 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 22 Aug after | 22.5 °C | 43 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 23 Aug after | 22.1 °C | 62 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
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.
Detections table · 67Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ogliastro fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 11 August 2017 and 13 August 2017: 3 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 1,487 hectares (14.9 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 5 municipalities: Sisco (742 ha, 30 %); Olcani (412 ha, 29 %); Pietracorbara (240 ha, 9.2 %); Nonza (64 ha, 7.5 %); Ogliastro (31 ha, 3.3 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 0.2 km of Sisco. 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 22.1 °C, humidity dropped to 46 % and gusts hit 68 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 30, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of France (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 · 18
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 ADM5 (Open Data Commons Attribution 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.