The fire started on 6 July 2024 in Paulilatino, Italy, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 434 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
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Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Burned area
matches the official record
434ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
This page434CFVA Sardegna417
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus)
Date
perimeter revised on 28 August 2024
+− cross-check
CFVA Sardegna: 417 ha (matched records: 1). Difference between the page and the official record: +4.0%. Matched on 8 November 2026.
Duration by satellite
satellite only
1day
6 Jul 2024 to 6 Jul 2024: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 6 Jul 2024, 12:06 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
matches the official record
6 Jul 2024
Alert according to CFVA Sardegna: 6 July 2024.
Source
CFVA Sardegna · 2024/OR/0076
Date
matched to the page on 8 November 2026
+− cross-check
First day with fire on the page (satellite or perimeter): 6 July 2024.
Hotspots
satellite only
3
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 73 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP)
Date
6 Jul 2024 – 6 Jul 2024
+− 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 only
98MW
Total radiative power on 6 July 2024; hotspots that day: 3.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
6 Jul 2024
+− 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
model
45.6FWI · very high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 11.
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
model
33.4°C · 32% RH
High of 33.4 °C and minimum humidity of 32% on 6 July 2024; gusts of 38 km/h on 6 July 2024.
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
· reconstructedofficial
Matched with the official CFVA Sardegna record
Matches: 417 ha in the official record (records: 1).
A 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
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
33°high
38km/h · peak gust
32%lowest humidity
It had gone 11 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
Paulilatino2,107 inhabitants · 1.3 km from the centrewhere it started
270 hareached on 6 Jul
2.6 %
Ghilarza4,175 inhabitants · 2.3 km from the centre
165 ha
3.0 %
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.
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)
6 Jul
33.4 °C
32 %
38 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 46
7 Jul after
27.6 °C
59 %
35 km/h
0.0 mm
High 27
8 Jul after
32.2 °C
45 %
33 km/h
0.0 mm
High 28
9 Jul after
32.4 °C
44 %
30 km/h
0.0 mm
High 32
10 Jul after
34.3 °C
34 %
34 km/h
0.0 mm
High 36
11 Jul after
34.0 °C
34 %
33 km/h
0.0 mm
High 36
12 Jul after
34.5 °C
32 %
32 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 40
13 Jul after
32.8 °C
37 %
35 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 39
14 Jul after
32.4 °C
38 %
34 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 40
15 Jul after
32.2 °C
40 %
29 km/h
0.0 mm
High 37
16 Jul after
32.2 °C
46 %
31 km/h
0.0 mm
High 34
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 45.6, a minimum humidity of 32% and 11 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 19.
FWI at the start45.6
Minimum humidity32 %
Days without rain11
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Paulilatino fire, July 2024
434 ha1 dayFWI 45.6Min. humidity 32 %
Oschiri fire, August 2016
104 ha1 dayFWI 45.5Min. humidity 32 %85 km away, in 2016
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
It was 1.7 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 1 day, against 1 day.
Only 4 of its 19 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 11 of 19, 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 2.2 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
—first rain
—no rain in ten days
38km/h · max. gust
It was considered over on 6 Jul, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 8 of 19, with a median of 2.2 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.
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
↔
Before · 29 Jun 2024
After · 13 Jul 2024
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 · Copernicus
On 9 July 2024 the air beside the fire reached 13 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak13µg/m³
Days over the guideline0days
PM1034µg/m³
Optical depth0.78
4 Jul6 Jul8 Jul
GoodFairModeratePoorVery poorExtremely 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· 3Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.›
⬇ Download CSVTimes in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Copernicus dates it between 6 July 2024 and 6 July 2024: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 434 hectares (4.3 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Paulilatino (270 ha, 2.6 %); Ghilarza (165 ha, 3.0 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Paulilatino and came within 1.3 km of its centre. That is the distance from the perimeter, or the nearest hotspot, to the point marking the centre; it does not mean it entered the houses.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.4 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 46, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Italy (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: 19. Their median duration was 1 day and their median area 252 ha; 5 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 4 of its 19 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 11 of 19, 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 2.2 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.
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 errorHow we know this›
Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 3 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with CFVA Sardegna: 417 official ha against 434 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
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 ADM4 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License). 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.