Skip to content
worldfires
en
UA · Ukraine · →

Popasna fire, 4 July 2026 Попаснянський район · Popasna, Perevalsk

Out · last detection 12 Oct 2026, 09:37 UTC

The fire started on 4 July 2026 in Popasna, Ukraine, and satellites saw it burning for 101 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 797 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 90th largest in Luhansk Oblast since 2016 (of 909 with a page). Number 68 in Ukraine in 2026, of 984.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Perevalsk · 2025Popasna · 2024Popasna · 2023Popasna · 2024

Burnt area
797ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
101days
4 Jul 2026 – 12 Oct 2026
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
4 Jul
2026
Heat detections
0
in a single hotspot: 0 MW
Danger at start
6
Low · FWI index

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 4 Jul12 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

12 Oct 2026 · 0 MW · 0

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

34°high
57km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

It had gone 8 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 10.9 mm on 15 Oct.

This area had burned before

57% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 105 ha in 2023, 295 ha in 2024, 345 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 453 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 0.5% of the area of London (8 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Popasna Попаснянський район 40,204 inhabitants · 21.6 km from the centre where it started
    524 ha reached on 12 Oct
    0.3 %
  2. Perevalsk Перевальський район 69,738 inhabitants · 27.7 km from the centre
    269 ha
    0.4 %

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 land93 %
  • Agricultural areas5.0 %
  • Mixed forest2.0 %

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)
4 Jul 30.9 °C 29 % 28 km/h 6.9 mm Low 6
5 Jul 24.5 °C 36 % 40 km/h 8.1 mm Very low 4
6 Jul 25.9 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
7 Jul 26.4 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
8 Jul 28.7 °C 25 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
9 Jul 25.1 °C 54 % 34 km/h 2.6 mm Very low 3
10 Jul 22.9 °C 75 % 36 km/h 12.2 mm Very low 0
11 Jul 23.9 °C 40 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
12 Jul 24.4 °C 46 % 51 km/h 3.2 mm Very low 3
13 Jul 26.4 °C 36 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
14 Jul 26.5 °C 51 % 30 km/h 0.6 mm Low 9
15 Jul 28.6 °C 41 % 25 km/h 2.6 mm Very low 3
16 Jul 27.6 °C 41 % 40 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 12
17 Jul 22.6 °C 35 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
18 Jul 22.6 °C 44 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
19 Jul 26.9 °C 37 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
20 Jul 30.9 °C 27 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
21 Jul 33.2 °C 19 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
22 Jul 27.5 °C 29 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
23 Jul 24.8 °C 42 % 31 km/h 2.9 mm Very low 5
24 Jul 23.5 °C 64 % 25 km/h 18.7 mm Very low 0
25 Jul 22.0 °C 68 % 44 km/h 29.4 mm Very low 0
26 Jul 20.0 °C 82 % 36 km/h 17.2 mm Very low 0
27 Jul 27.1 °C 40 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm Very low 1
28 Jul 26.4 °C 44 % 42 km/h 2.7 mm Very low 1
29 Jul 22.3 °C 47 % 48 km/h 6.3 mm Very low 1
30 Jul 22.5 °C 44 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
31 Jul 26.0 °C 45 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
1 Aug 26.8 °C 46 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
2 Aug 28.3 °C 44 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
3 Aug 29.8 °C 40 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
4 Aug 31.4 °C 32 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
5 Aug 31.0 °C 37 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
6 Aug 32.9 °C 30 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
7 Aug 34.0 °C 28 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
8 Aug 32.4 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.1 mm High 22
9 Aug 31.0 °C 46 % 35 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 12
10 Aug 27.8 °C 43 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
11 Aug 31.0 °C 40 % 27 km/h 1.9 mm Low 9
12 Aug 29.1 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 17
13 Aug 22.5 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
14 Aug 21.3 °C 33 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
15 Aug 22.5 °C 34 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
16 Aug 26.9 °C 31 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
17 Aug 29.2 °C 26 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
18 Aug 31.4 °C 19 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
19 Aug 28.3 °C 36 % 34 km/h 0.5 mm High 29
20 Aug 27.1 °C 30 % 27 km/h 0.3 mm High 25
21 Aug 31.0 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
22 Aug 33.5 °C 22 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
23 Aug 33.2 °C 17 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
24 Aug 26.1 °C 27 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
25 Aug 25.4 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
26 Aug 26.9 °C 28 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
27 Aug 20.8 °C 55 % 33 km/h 0.5 mm High 23
28 Aug 23.7 °C 45 % 52 km/h 0.1 mm High 28
29 Aug 27.4 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
30 Aug 26.4 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
31 Aug 26.6 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
1 Sept 27.9 °C 16 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
2 Sept 28.9 °C 19 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
3 Sept 26.1 °C 36 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
4 Sept 26.4 °C 32 % 19 km/h 0.3 mm High 28
5 Sept 29.0 °C 23 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
6 Sept 21.9 °C 38 % 36 km/h 4.7 mm Low 7
7 Sept 18.4 °C 45 % 45 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 15
8 Sept 20.3 °C 33 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
9 Sept 22.4 °C 22 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
10 Sept 28.1 °C 20 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
11 Sept 28.1 °C 25 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
12 Sept 27.2 °C 34 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
13 Sept 30.7 °C 26 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
14 Sept 25.4 °C 45 % 27 km/h 1.7 mm Moderate 12
15 Sept 18.5 °C 78 % 44 km/h 6.5 mm Very low 0
16 Sept 15.8 °C 73 % 33 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 2
17 Sept 20.4 °C 44 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
18 Sept 23.6 °C 32 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
19 Sept 24.7 °C 34 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
20 Sept 26.4 °C 31 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
21 Sept 25.7 °C 30 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
22 Sept 22.9 °C 54 % 33 km/h 1.3 mm Low 10
23 Sept 24.1 °C 48 % 57 km/h 2.5 mm Low 11
24 Sept 16.3 °C 54 % 48 km/h 3.1 mm Low 6
25 Sept 17.8 °C 45 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
26 Sept 19.5 °C 48 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm Low 11
27 Sept 18.9 °C 49 % 38 km/h 0.8 mm Moderate 12
28 Sept 20.2 °C 37 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
29 Sept 18.9 °C 30 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
30 Sept 17.3 °C 52 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
1 Oct 17.5 °C 45 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
2 Oct 14.3 °C 37 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
3 Oct 14.3 °C 44 % 40 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 19
4 Oct 15.4 °C 42 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
5 Oct 19.0 °C 38 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
6 Oct 18.9 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
7 Oct 21.8 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
8 Oct 22.6 °C 38 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
9 Oct 22.5 °C 36 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
10 Oct 19.5 °C 62 % 35 km/h 1.1 mm Low 10
11 Oct 22.5 °C 44 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
12 Oct 25.1 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
13 Oct after 20.9 °C 61 % 31 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 17
14 Oct after 20.5 °C 55 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
15 Oct after 16.9 °C 84 % 33 km/h 10.9 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 27 Jun 2026
After · 19 Oct 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 3 July 2026 the air beside the fire reached 18 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak18 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1024 µg/m³
Optical depth0.85
234567
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)

Detections table · 0Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Ukraine ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Popasna fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 4 July 2026 to 12 October 2026 (101 days). The perimeter dates it from 4 July 2026 to 4 July 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 797 hectares (8.0 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Popasna (524 ha, 0.3 %); Perevalsk (269 ha, 0.4 %).
Is the Popasna fire still active?
No fire detections since 12 Oct 2026, 09:37 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Popasna and came within 21.6 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 34.0 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 57 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 Ukraine (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: 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

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 4 July 2026 to 4 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.