Randazzo fire, August 2021 Bronte, Randazzo
The fire started on 5 August 2021 in Randazzo, Italy, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 117 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 63th largest in Catania since 2016 (of 76 with a page). Number 246 in Italy in 2021, of 291.
The power measured by the satellite is low (1.3 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
- 117ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 5 Aug 2021 – 5 Aug 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 5 Aug
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 2
- in a single hotspot: 1 MW
- Danger at start
- 33
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2MW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 10 Aug.
This area had burned before
38% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 45 ha in 2017, 27 ha in 2019. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 45 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
105 ha0.4 %
-
Randazzo where it started12 ha reached on 5 Aug0.1 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
What burned
- Other natural land65 %
- Agricultural areas22 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland13 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 83 %
- ZEPA + LIC Lago Gurrida e Sciare di S. Venera ITA070019
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.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Aug | 31.1 °C | 21 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 6 Aug after | 27.7 °C | 35 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 7 Aug after | 28.3 °C | 34 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 8 Aug after | 30.7 °C | 34 % | 30 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 28 |
| 9 Aug after | 33.1 °C | 32 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 10 Aug after | 35.8 °C | 21 % | 23 km/h | 1.1 mm | High 31 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
Detections table · 2Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 1,156 haRandazzoAugust 2019 · 2 days · 3 km away
- 2,005 haSanta Domenica VittoriaJuly 2021 · 4 days · 8 km away
- 3,762 haRegalbutoJuly 2021 · 4 days · 28 km away
- 1,331 haPattiJuly 2023 · 2 days · 31 km away
- 1,119 haPattiJune 2017 · 3 days · 31 km away
- 1,371 haMongiuffi MeliaAugust 2026 · 4 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Randazzo fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 5 August 2021 and 5 August 2021: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 117 hectares (1.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Bronte (105 ha, 0.4 %); Randazzo (12 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 31.1 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, class 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.
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
Satellite cross-check
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
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.