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OTESANI fire, March 2026 OTESANI, CERNISOARA

Out · last measured on 8 Mar 2026

The fire started on 8 March 2026 in OTESANI, Romania, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 157 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 6th largest in Vâlcea since 2016 (of 12 with a page). Number 40 in Romania in 2026, of 59.

We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but not yet its hotspots: NASA publishes the yearly hotspot archive only once the year closes. The page picks it up automatically when it is available.

Burnt area
157ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
8 Mar 2026 – 8 Mar 2026
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
8 Mar
2026
Danger at start
3
Very low · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

12°high
24km/h · peak gust
45%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

73% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 59 ha in 2023, 23 ha in 2024, 86 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 114 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. OTESANI where it started
    120 ha
    3.6 %
  2. CERNISOARA
    37 ha
    0.6 %

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 areas70 %
  • Broadleaved forest30 %
  • Artificial surfaces0.6 %

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)
8 Mar 12.5 °C 45 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
9 Mar after 12.1 °C 41 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
10 Mar after 13.6 °C 27 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
11 Mar after 14.3 °C 20 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
12 Mar after 13.3 °C 44 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
13 Mar after 14.1 °C 27 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
14 Mar after 11.4 °C 43 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
15 Mar after 10.8 °C 42 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
16 Mar after 10.7 °C 41 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 5
17 Mar after 11.8 °C 39 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
18 Mar after 11.3 °C 36 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 1 Mar 2026
After · 15 Mar 2026

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 6 March 2026 the air beside the fire reached 27 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 17: 1.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak27 µg/m³
Days over the guideline2 days
PM1031 µg/m³
Optical depth0.39
67891011
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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Romania ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the OTESANI fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 8 March 2026 and 8 March 2026: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 157 hectares (1.6 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: OTESANI (120 ha, 3.6 %); CERNISOARA (37 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 12.5 °C, humidity dropped to 45 % and gusts hit 24 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 3, class Very low.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Romania (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
What do you think is wrong?

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.

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 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.