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Patras fire, July 2021 Δημοτική Ενότητα Πατρέων · Patras

Out · last measured on 28 Jul 2021

The fire started on 28 July 2021 in Patras, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 111 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 32th largest in Western Greece since 2016 (of 36 with a page). Number 40 in Greece in 2021, of 45.

We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
111ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
28 Jul 2021 – 28 Jul 2021
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
28 Jul
2021
Danger at start
35
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

36°high
31km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity

It had gone 42 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

  1. Patras Δημοτική Ενότητα Πατρέων 1.3 km from the town where it started
    111 ha
    0.3 %

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

  • Agricultural areas43 %
  • Artificial surfaces34 %
  • Other natural land21 %
  • Sclerophyllous scrub1.8 %

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)
28 Jul 35.8 °C 24 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
29 Jul after 37.5 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
30 Jul after 37.0 °C 29 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
31 Jul after 34.8 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
1 Aug after 38.2 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
2 Aug after 36.5 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
3 Aug after 39.3 °C 22 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
4 Aug after 36.7 °C 26 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
5 Aug after 34.8 °C 27 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
6 Aug after 29.7 °C 46 % 55 km/h 0.2 mm High 34
7 Aug after 33.0 °C 39 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 30

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 21 Jul 2021
After · 4 Aug 2021

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 31 July 2021 the air beside the fire reached 31 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 26: 1.7 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak31 µg/m³
Days over the guideline4 days
PM1052 µg/m³
262728293031
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 Greece ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Patras fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 28 July 2021 and 28 July 2021: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 111 hectares (1.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Patras (111 ha, 0.3 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The closest fire to a town centre came within 1.3 km of Patras. 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 35.8 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 31 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 35, 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

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 · 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.