Skip to content
worldfires
IT · Italy · –

Praia a Mare fire, August 2025 Aieta, Praia a Mare

Out · last detection 16 Aug 2025, 00:33 UTC

The fire started on 15 August 2025 in Praia a Mare, Italy, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 135 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 94th largest in Cosenza since 2016 (of 145 with a page). Number 152 in Italy in 2025, of 216.

The power measured by the satellite is low (1.5 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
135ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
5days
15 Aug 2025 – 19 Aug 2025
Municipalities hit
2
municipalities
Started on
15 Aug
2025
Heat detections
3
in a single hotspot: 1 MW
Danger at start
11
Low · FWI index
Average daily power
3MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Aug19 Aug

How it evolved, day by day

16 Aug 2025 · 3 MW · 3

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

The weather it burned in

29°high
36km/h · peak gust
45%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.3 mm on 22 Aug.

This area had burned before

56% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 72 ha in 2017, 25 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 75 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Aieta 753 inhabitants · 3.4 km from the centre
    69 ha reached on 16 Aug
    1.4 %
  2. Praia a Mare 6,364 inhabitants · fire reached the centre where it started
    65 ha reached on 16 Aug
    2.8 %

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 land85 %
  • Broadleaved forest7.5 %
  • Mixed forest6.8 %
  • Sclerophyllous scrub0.8 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 63 %

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< 0.1 ha
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.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
15 Aug 29.4 °C 45 % 28 km/h 6.4 mm Low 11
16 Aug 25.2 °C 51 % 28 km/h 10.0 mm Very low 1
17 Aug 26.9 °C 53 % 26 km/h 3.7 mm Very low 1
18 Aug 27.3 °C 49 % 24 km/h 8.0 mm Very low 2
19 Aug 26.9 °C 51 % 36 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 2
20 Aug after 27.6 °C 47 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
21 Aug after 27.7 °C 42 % 51 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 12
22 Aug after 25.0 °C 56 % 47 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 4

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 10.7, a minimum humidity of 45% and rain the day before. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 16.

FWI at the start 10.7
Minimum humidity 45 %
Days without rain 0
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Irsina fire, August 2026
124 ha 62 days FWI 11.1 Min. humidity 45 % 100 km away, in 2026

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.6 mm on 21 Oct.

What happened to them

2 days
median duration
122 ha
median area
0 %
went past 1,000 ha
1.4 mm
rain at the end (median; 13 of 16 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (135 ha against a median of 122 ha) and lasted 5 days, against 2 days.

In 3 of 16, 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 1.4 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

1.3 mmfirst rain
22 Aug3 days after it ended
36km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 19 Aug, and on 22 Aug 1.3 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 13 of 16, with a median of 1.4 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.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Aug 2025
After · 26 Aug 2025

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 18 August 2025 the air beside the fire reached 48 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 19: 1.3 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak48 µg/m³
Days over the guideline1 day
PM1052 µg/m³
Optical depth0.86
13 Aug15 Aug17 Aug19 Aug
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 · 3Every 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 Italy

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Praia a Mare fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 15 August 2025 to 19 August 2025 (5 days). The perimeter dates it from 15 August 2025 to 16 August 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 135 hectares (1.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Aieta (69 ha, 1.4 %); Praia a Mare (65 ha, 2.8 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Praia a Mare and reached its centre: the point marking it was inside the burnt area or less than 500 metres from it. That does not mean houses burned.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.4 °C, humidity dropped to 45 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 11, class Low.
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: 16. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 122 ha; 0 % went past 1,000 ha. In 3 of 16, 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 1.4 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: 112 · 1515 · 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.

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 · 1515.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 15 August 2025 to 16 August 2025. 3 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.
  • 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.

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 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.