The fire started on 7 July 2025 in Pentalia, Cyprus, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 378 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 4th largest in Paphos since 2016 (of 13 with a page). Number 2 in Cyprus in 2025, of 5.
The power measured by the satellite is low (21.2 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
matches the official recordwith caveatssatellite onlymodel
When copying, the sentence is
Tick the figures you want: they make up the lede and the CSV.
Burned area
matches the official record
378ha
Perimeter published by EFFIS (Copernicus).
This page378Τμήμα Δασών406
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus)
Date
perimeter revised on 13 July 2025
+− cross-check
Τμήμα Δασών: 406 ha (matched records: 1). Difference between the page and the official record: −6.9%. Matched on 8 November 2026.
Duration by satellite
satellite only
2days
7 Jul 2025 to 8 Jul 2025: first and last day with fire on the page.
Source
EFFIS (Copernicus) · NASA FIRMS · VIIRS
Date
last detection: 7 Jul 2025, 23:47 UTC
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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 and cause
matches the official record
7 Jul 2025
Alert according to Τμήμα Δασών: 7 July 2025. Official cause: arson.
Source
Τμήμα Δασών · 8c2b5f447d7c393c
Date
matched to the page on 8 November 2026
+− cross-check
First day with fire on the page (satellite or perimeter): 7 July 2025.
Hotspots
satellite only
11
VIIRS detections at 375 m. Most intense hotspot: 21 MW.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (Suomi NPP + NOAA-20)
Date
7 Jul 2025 – 8 Jul 2025
+− 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
39MW
Total radiative power on 7 July 2025; hotspots that day: 11.
Source
NASA FIRMS · VIIRS (FRP)
Date
7 Jul 2025
+− 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
41.8FWI · very high
Fire Weather Index (Canadian system) computed by WorldFires for the day the fire started. Consecutive days without rain before: 36.
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
31.7°C · 45% RH
High of 31.7 °C and minimum humidity of 45% on 7 July 2025; gusts of 38 km/h on 7 July 2025.
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 Τμήμα Δασών record
Matches: 406 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
32°high
38km/h · peak gust
39%lowest humidity
It had gone 36 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
GalatariaΓαλαταριά56 inhabitants · 0.8 km from the centre
217 hareached on 7 Jul
27 %
PentaliaΠενταλιά63 inhabitants · 0.5 km from the centrewhere it started
162 hareached on 7 Jul
11 %
Statos Agios FotiosΣτατός-Άγιος Φώτιος243 inhabitants · 1.8 km from the centre
0 ha
0.0 %
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.
Natura 2000 sites (European Environment Agency, 2024 release) crossed by the perimeter.
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2025
Built-up area< 0.1ha
Residents< 20
Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.
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)
7 Jul
31.7 °C
45 %
38 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 42
8 Jul
29.3 °C
39 %
37 km/h
0.0 mm
Very high 39
9 Jul after
28.2 °C
56 %
31 km/h
0.0 mm
High 27
10 Jul after
30.0 °C
45 %
36 km/h
0.0 mm
High 29
11 Jul after
28.6 °C
47 %
33 km/h
0.0 mm
High 30
12 Jul after
28.4 °C
47 %
34 km/h
0.0 mm
High 32
13 Jul after
28.1 °C
51 %
35 km/h
0.0 mm
High 28
14 Jul after
26.8 °C
54 %
33 km/h
0.0 mm
High 28
15 Jul after
26.7 °C
68 %
34 km/h
0.0 mm
High 22
16 Jul after
27.1 °C
71 %
32 km/h
0.0 mm
Moderate 19
17 Jul after
27.4 °C
64 %
35 km/h
0.1 mm
High 22
18 Jul after
27.2 °C
63 %
41 km/h
0.0 mm
High 25
Its twins: fires that started in the same weather
It started with an FWI of 41.8, a minimum humidity of 45% and 36 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 12.
FWI at the start41.8
Minimum humidity45 %
Days without rain36
this firechosen twinsrest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar
Outlines of the closest twins
This fire · Pentalia fire, July 2025
378 ha2 daysFWI 41.8Min. humidity 45 %
Ora fire, July 2017
117 ha1 dayFWI 44.3Min. humidity 45 %53 km away, in 2017
First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: none in the following ten days.
Fires in the area that started in similar weather: 12. With fewer than 15 we give no figures: they would be more noise than signal.
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 8 Jul, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain.
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 · 30 Jun 2025
After · 15 Jul 2025
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 2025 the air beside the fire reached 18 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
PM2.5 peak18µg/m³
Days over the guideline0days
PM1026µg/m³
Optical depth0.23
WHO 15
5 Jul7 Jul9 Jul11 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· 11Every 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 7 July 2025 and 8 July 2025: 2 days between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 378 hectares (3.8 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Galataria (217 ha, 27 %); Pentalia (162 ha, 11 %); Statos Agios Fotios (0 ha, 0.0 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Pentalia and came within 0.5 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 31.7 °C, humidity dropped to 39 % and gusts hit 38 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Cyprus (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.
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. 11 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
Compared with Τμήμα Δασών: 406 official ha against 378 ha of perimeter; they agree within 25%.
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 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
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 3.0 Unported). 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.