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Perevalsk fire, 23 July 2026 Перевальський район · Perevalsk

Out · last measured on 12 Sept 2026

The fire started on 23 July 2026 in Perevalsk, Ukraine, and satellites saw it burning for 52 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 409 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 214th largest in Luhansk Oblast since 2016 (of 909 with a page). Number 184 in Ukraine in 2026, of 984.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Shakhtarsk · 2025Shakhtarsk · 2025Perevalsk · 2025Perevalsk · 2024

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
409ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
52days
23 Jul 2026 – 12 Sept 2026
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
23 Jul
2026
Danger at start
28
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

34°high
51km/h · peak gust
17%lowest humidity

It had gone 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.8 mm on 14 Sept.

This area had burned before

100% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 15 ha in 2022, 367 ha in 2024, 408 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 408 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Perevalsk Перевальський район 69,738 inhabitants · 25.5 km from the centre where it started
    409 ha
    0.5 %

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

  • Other natural land78 %
  • Mixed forest18 %
  • Agricultural areas4.2 %

Land cover inside the perimeter as reported by Copernicus EFFIS (outside the Corine Land Cover area).

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)
23 Jul 25.1 °C 40 % 30 km/h 2.9 mm High 28
24 Jul 23.2 °C 66 % 23 km/h 27.7 mm Very low 1
25 Jul 22.2 °C 71 % 47 km/h 36.6 mm Very low 0
26 Jul 19.8 °C 83 % 40 km/h 21.9 mm Very low 0
27 Jul 26.9 °C 42 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
28 Jul 26.4 °C 47 % 42 km/h 0.4 mm Low 8
29 Jul 22.2 °C 48 % 48 km/h 6.8 mm Very low 2
30 Jul 22.4 °C 45 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
31 Jul 25.9 °C 47 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
1 Aug 26.8 °C 48 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
2 Aug 28.2 °C 45 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
3 Aug 29.8 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
4 Aug 31.2 °C 33 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
5 Aug 31.0 °C 38 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
6 Aug 32.7 °C 31 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
7 Aug 33.8 °C 30 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
8 Aug 32.3 °C 30 % 27 km/h 0.1 mm High 28
9 Aug 31.1 °C 47 % 35 km/h 1.6 mm High 29
10 Aug 27.9 °C 42 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
11 Aug 30.8 °C 41 % 25 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 17
12 Aug 29.5 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.6 mm High 24
13 Aug 22.3 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
14 Aug 21.1 °C 34 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
15 Aug 22.4 °C 34 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
16 Aug 26.9 °C 31 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
17 Aug 29.1 °C 27 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
18 Aug 31.3 °C 20 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
19 Aug 28.7 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.2 mm High 36
20 Aug 27.3 °C 27 % 27 km/h 0.5 mm High 27
21 Aug 30.9 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
22 Aug 33.4 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
23 Aug 33.0 °C 18 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
24 Aug 26.2 °C 28 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
25 Aug 25.3 °C 28 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
26 Aug 27.1 °C 28 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Aug 21.2 °C 52 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm High 35
28 Aug 24.1 °C 44 % 51 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 44
29 Aug 27.3 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
30 Aug 26.2 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
31 Aug 26.5 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
1 Sept 27.7 °C 17 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
2 Sept 28.9 °C 20 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
3 Sept 26.0 °C 38 % 28 km/h 0.1 mm High 38
4 Sept 26.4 °C 33 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
5 Sept 29.0 °C 23 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
6 Sept 21.8 °C 39 % 37 km/h 4.6 mm Low 6
7 Sept 18.4 °C 46 % 45 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 19
8 Sept 20.1 °C 33 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
9 Sept 22.2 °C 23 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
10 Sept 27.8 °C 21 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
11 Sept 28.2 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
12 Sept 26.9 °C 35 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
13 Sept after 30.6 °C 26 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
14 Sept after 25.8 °C 45 % 28 km/h 1.8 mm Low 11

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 27.6, a minimum humidity of 40% and 7 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2020: 19.

FWI at the start 27.6
Minimum humidity 40 %
Days without rain 7
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Shakhtarsk fire, June 2025
222 ha 1 day FWI 28.2 Min. humidity 39 % 42 km away, in 2025

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 7.4 mm on 15 Jun.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

3 days
median duration
161 ha
median area
0 %
went past 1,000 ha
2.8 mm
rain at the end (median; 15 of 19 had it)

It was 2.5 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 52 days, against 3 days.

Only 3 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 4 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 2.8 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

1.8 mmfirst rain
14 Sept2 days after it ended
51km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 12 Sept, and on 14 Sept 1.8 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 15 of 19, with a median of 2.8 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 2020.
  • 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.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 16 Jul 2026
After · 19 Sept 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 21 July 2026 the air beside the fire reached 20 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak20 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1025 µg/m³
Optical depth0.71
21 Jul23 Jul25 Jul
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 Ukraine

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Perevalsk fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 23 July 2026 to 12 September 2026 (52 days). The perimeter dates it from 23 July 2026 to 23 July 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 409 hectares (4.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Perevalsk (409 ha, 0.5 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Perevalsk and came within 25.5 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 33.8 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 60, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Ukraine (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 2020 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 19. Their median duration was 3 days and their median area 161 ha; 0 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 3 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 4 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 2.8 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: 101 · 112 · 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
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 101 · 112.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 23 July 2026 to 23 July 2026. No 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.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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 (Public Domain). 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.