Burned area
satellite only317ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus)
- Date
- perimeter revised on 2 March 2022
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page to compare it with.
HR · Croatia · –
Općina Gračac fire, 31 March 2019 Općina Gračac
Out · last detection 2 Apr 2019, 11:04 UTC
The fire started on 31 March 2019 in Općina Gračac, Croatia, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 317 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 21th largest in Zadar County since 2016 (of 55 with a page). Number 10 in Croatia in 2019, of 32.
The power measured by the satellite is low (12.6 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
Use this data
Compare with…
Use this data
Fire page data · version 2026-10-24matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Duration by satellite
satellite only3days
31 Mar 2019 to 2 Apr 2019: first and last day with fire on the page.
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- last detection: 2 Apr 2019, 11:04 UTC
+− cross-check
Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
Start
satellite only31 Mar 2019
First day with fire seen by the satellites or the perimeter.
- Source
- EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
- Date
- 31 Mar 2019
+− cross-check
No official record is matched to this page, so the alert time and the cause are not known here.
Hotspots
satellite only6
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 13 MW.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
- Date
- 31 Mar 2019 – 2 Apr 2019
+− cross-check
There is no official record to compare with. Each hotspot is a pixel detected in one satellite pass, not a separate fire.
The worst day
satellite only29MW
Total radiative power on 1 April 2019; hotspots that day: 3.
- Source
- NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
- Date
- 1 Apr 2019
+− cross-check
Fire radiative power (FRP) measures the energy the fire gives off when the satellite passes. Added up by day, it compares intensity, not area.
Danger at the start
model6.6FWI · low
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 4.
- Source
- WorldFires calculation (Canadian FWI system)
- Date
- 31 Mar 2019, local noon
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
This is an index computed from weather model data, not a measurement of the fire nor an official warning. Danger warnings are issued by each country’s authority. Emergency number and official warnings
Weather during the fire
model17.6°C · 25% RH
High of 17.6 °C and minimum humidity of 25% on 31 March 2019; gusts of 40 km/h on 1 April 2019.
- Source
- weather model at the fire’s grid cell
- Date
- 31 Mar 2019 – 2 Apr 2019
- Model
- ERA5 0,25° (ECMWF · Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com
+− cross-check
These are model values for a cell of about 25 km, not from a weather station: they may differ from what was measured on the ground.
This page’s change log has been kept since 24 October 2026: every night what it publishes is compared and the difference is logged. Anything earlier is reconstructed from each source’s date and marked as reconstructed.
Show
-
· reconstructed weatherWeather and FWI computed from the ERA5 reanalysis
-
· reconstructed GHSLPopulation and built-up area computed
-
· reconstructed perimeterEFFIS (Copernicus) revises the perimeter
What was saved on 24 October 2026
Every night a snapshot of what the page shows is saved. If anything changes, it appears in the list as a log entry.
- Area
- 317 ha
- Dates
- 31 Mar 2019 – 2 Apr 2019
- Name
- Općina Gračac
- Official record
- —
Versioned permanent link
https://worldfires.org/en/fire/opcina-gracac-2019-03-2?v=2026-10-24A version keeps the area, dates, name and official record; the area as it was logged (changes under 2% are not logged). The map, hotspots and weather always show today’s data.
Citation
A lede of about 60 words figures only, no adjectives
CSV for this fire opcina-gracac-2019-03-2.csv · daily, no individual hotspots
| fecha | focos_viirs | frp_mw | tmax_c | tmin_c | hr_min_pct | viento_max_kmh | racha_max_kmh | precip_mm | fwi | clase_fwi | dentro_del_incendio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-03-31 | 0 | 0 | 17.6 | -0.4 | 25 | 8.4 | 23.8 | 0 | 6.6 | bajo | 1 |
| 2019-04-01 | 3 | 29 | 17 | 2.8 | 24 | 13.8 | 40.3 | 0 | 11.5 | moderado | 1 |
| 2019-04-02 | 3 | 10 | 16 | 3.3 | 33 | 11.3 | 31.3 | 0 | 9.7 | bajo | 1 |
| 2019-04-03 | 0 | 0 | 11.6 | 4.8 | 50 | 16.3 | 55.4 | 0.7 | 7.8 | bajo | 0 |
| 2019-04-04 | 0 | 0 | 11.4 | 5.8 | 58 | 25.8 | 77.8 | 1.7 | 3.7 | muy_bajo | 0 |
It is generated in your browser from this page’s data: one file per fire, aggregated by day and without individual hotspots.
Live widget for your story
It updates itself while the fire is still active and links to this page. Free, with the attribution shown at the bottom.
Sources for this page: EFFIS (Copernicus), NASA FIRMS (VIIRS), ERA5 (ECMWF/Copernicus C3S) · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), GHSL (JRC). Open-Meteo.com · How we build fire pages: methodology
- Burnt area
- 317ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 3days
- 31 Mar 2019 – 2 Apr 2019
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 31 Mar
- 2019
- Heat detections
- 6
- in a single hotspot: 13 MW
- Danger at start
- 7
- Low · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 20MW
- detected power per day, on average
Where it burned
HOTSPOTS BY DAY
31 Mar2 Apr
2 Apr 2019
How it evolved, day by day
1 Apr
2 Apr
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
18°high
40km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity
It had gone 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.7 mm on 4 Apr.
This area had burned before
41% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 130 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
Općina Gračac where it started317 ha reached on 1 Apr0.3 %
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 forest50 %
- Other natural land47 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland2.5 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2020Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, 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.
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)
| Day | High | Min. humidity | Peak gust | Rain | Danger (FWI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Mar | 17.6 °C | 25 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 7 |
| 1 Apr | 17.0 °C | 24 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 2 Apr | 16.0 °C | 33 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 10 |
| 3 Apr after | 11.6 °C | 50 % | 55 km/h | 0.7 mm | Low 8 |
| 4 Apr after | 11.4 °C | 58 % | 78 km/h | 1.7 mm | Very low 4 |
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 6.6, a minimum humidity of 25% and 4 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 16.
FWI at the start
6.6
Minimum humidity
25 %
Days without rain
4
this fire
chosen twins
rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Općina Gračac fire, 31 March 2019
317 ha
3 days
FWI 6.6
Min. humidity 25 %
Općina Gračac fire, March 2017
1,680 ha
5 days
FWI 5.3
Min. humidity 25 %
6 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 3.0 mm on 26 Mar.
Općina Lovinac fire, February 2019
195 ha
2 days
FWI 6.0
Min. humidity 25 %
33 km away, in 2019
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 2.0 mm on 1 Mar.
Grad Gospić fire, April 2025
123 ha
2 days
FWI 8.7
Min. humidity 25 %
64 km away, in 2025
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.6 mm on 13 Apr.
Općina Gračac fire, April 2020
660 ha
8 days
FWI 8.4
Min. humidity 26 %
22 km away, in 2020
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 15.4 mm on 14 Apr.
Općina Barilović fire, March 2022
637 ha
1 day
FWI 6.2
Min. humidity 24 %
117 km away, in 2022
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
What happened to them
- 2 days
- median duration
- 152 ha
- median area
- 12 %
- went past 1,000 ha
- 3.0 mm
- rain at the end (median; 15 of 16 had it)
It was 2.1 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 3 days, against 2 days.
Only 5 of its 16 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 1 of 16, 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 3.0 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
1.7 mmfirst rain
4 Apr2 days after it ended
40km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 2 Apr, and on 4 Apr 1.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 15 of 16, with a median of 3.0 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.
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 24 Mar 2019
After · 9 Apr 2019
Sentinel-2 did not pass over on that day. Try another date, or use false colour, which is daily.
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 1 April 2019 the air beside the fire reached 26 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 21: 1.4 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak26 µg/m³
Days over the guideline4 days
PM1033 µg/m³
WHO 15
29 Mar31 Mar2 Apr4 Apr
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 · 6Every 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
- 3,528 haBihać20 March 2022 · 10 days · 13 km away
- 4,959 haOpćina Gračac5 April 2020 · 9 days · 19 km away
- 4,086 haOpćina Gračac5 August 2017 · 7 days · 19 km away
- 3,936 haOpćina Gračac22 March 2022 · 8 days · 20 km away
- 3,515 haBosansko Grahovo22 March 2022 · 8 days · 20 km away
- 4,225 haOpćina Gračac21 March 2022 · 7 days · 21 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Općina Gračac fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 31 March 2019 and 2 April 2019: 3 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 317 hectares (3.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Općina Gračac (317 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 17.6 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 40 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 12, class Moderate.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Croatia (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: 16. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 152 ha; 12 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 5 of its 16 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 1 of 16, 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 3.0 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: 112 · 193 · 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.
No changes since 24 October 2026.
RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 6 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 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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 (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0). 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.