Sarandë fire, 24 July 2025 Delvinë, Sarandë, Gjirokastër
The fire started on 24 July 2025 in Sarandë, Albania, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 9,856 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 2th largest in Vlorë since 2016 (of 160 with a page). Number 2 in Albania in 2025, of 71.
Compare with…
- Burnt area
- 9,856ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 13days
- 24 Jul 2025 – 5 Aug 2025
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 24 Jul
- 2025
- Heat detections
- 467
- in a single hotspot: 399 MW
- Danger at start
- 30
- High · FWI index
- Average daily power
- 894MW
- detected power per day, on average
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 35 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
50% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 330 ha in 2016, 2,094 ha in 2017, 111 ha in 2018, 868 ha in 2019, 2,281 ha in 2020, 45 ha in 2021, 430 ha in 2022, 446 ha in 2023, 50 ha in 2024. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 4,974 ha that had burned before.
- 862 ha Delvinë fire, August 2017 874 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 808 ha Sarandë fire, July 2017 844 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 738 ha Sarandë fire, September 2020 742 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 667 ha Delvinë fire, September 2020 679 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 446 ha Delvinë fire, September 2023 445 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 443 ha Sarandë fire, September 2019 455 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 426 ha Sarandë fire, August 2022 447 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 375 ha Sarandë fire, September 2020 420 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
How big is it?
London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Paris boundary: geoBoundaries · Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F) (Etalab Open License 2.0).
Madrid boundary: geoBoundaries · Open Data ESRI, IGN Central Registry of Cartography Area (CC BY 4.0).
Berlin boundary: geoBoundaries · Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (dl-de/by-2-0).
This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.
What happened to each town
-
4,990 ha reached on 24 Jul14 %
-
Sarandë where it started4,478 ha reached on 26 Jul5.3 %
-
412 ha reached on 25 Jul0.4 %
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 land68 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland17 %
- Sclerophyllous scrub4.9 %
- Agricultural areas4.7 %
- Broadleaved forest3.8 %
- Coniferous forest1.3 %
Land cover inside the perimeter according to Corine Land Cover, as reported by Copernicus.
People and buildings inside the perimeter
GHSL 2025Inside the perimeter there were about 6.7 hectares of built-up land and about 200 residents (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
Checked against the press
Checked on 29 September 2026We checked this page against 4 sources published once the fire was out. This is what they add:
- Also known as
- Delvina wildfire · Zjarri në Delvinë · Zjarri në Njësinë Administrative Vergo (Kalasë, Tatzat, Senicë, Kopaçëz, Palavli)
Sources
- Pas zjarrit shkatërrues në Delvinë, nis operacioni për vlerësimin e dëmeve – groposen 10 bagëti të djegura — Balkanweb, 29 July 2025
- Wildfire Rages in Southern Albania, Injures Three, Forces 2,000 to Evacuate Amid Balkan Heatwave — Greek City Times, 26 July 2025
- Delvinë/ Vijojnë aktive vatrat e zjarrit në disa fshatra. 11 banesa të djegura dhe mbi 2 mijë banorë të evakuuar — Balkanweb, 26 July 2025
- Delvinë/ Fiken të gjitha vatrat e zjarrit në Kalasë, flakët arrijnë fshatin Tatzat — Shqiptarja.com, 24 July 2025
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Jul | 32.3 °C | 32 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 25 Jul | 34.4 °C | 34 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 26 Jul | 34.3 °C | 35 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 27 Jul | 29.1 °C | 54 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 28 Jul | 25.9 °C | 62 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 29 Jul | 25.3 °C | 65 % | 30 km/h | 1.2 mm | Low 10 |
| 30 Jul | 27.4 °C | 56 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 31 Jul | 25.8 °C | 65 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 1 Aug | 26.7 °C | 58 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 2 Aug | 27.6 °C | 56 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 3 Aug | 27.7 °C | 55 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 4 Aug | 26.4 °C | 62 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 5 Aug | 26.2 °C | 57 % | 23 km/h | 2.5 mm | Low 6 |
| 6 Aug after | 28.4 °C | 53 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 7 Aug after | 29.4 °C | 48 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 8 Aug after | 29.9 °C | 47 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 9 Aug after | 30.6 °C | 44 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 10 Aug after | 31.6 °C | 37 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 11 Aug after | 32.1 °C | 35 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 12 Aug after | 32.9 °C | 33 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 13 Aug after | 31.4 °C | 44 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 14 Aug after | 28.0 °C | 57 % | 29 km/h | 0.3 mm | High 22 |
| 15 Aug after | 28.5 °C | 60 % | 26 km/h | 0.5 mm | Moderate 20 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 27 July 2025 the air beside the fire reached 71 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 31: 2.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
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 · 467Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 1,862 haGjirokastërJuly 2024 · 4 days · 13 km away
- 1,772 haDelvinë19 July 2024 · 5 days · 17 km away
- 4,153 haDelvinë8 July 2024 · 6 days · 20 km away
- 12,229 haSarandë6 August 2025 · 9 days · 23 km away
- 5,609 haGjirokastër8 August 2017 · 5 days · 25 km away
- 2,295 haCorfu Νότιας ΚέρκυραςJuly 2023 · 4 days · 30 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Sarandë fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 24 July 2025 to 5 August 2025 (13 days). The perimeter dates it from 24 July 2025 to 4 August 2025.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 9,856 hectares (98.6 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Delvinë (4,990 ha, 14 %); Sarandë (4,478 ha, 5.3 %); Gjirokastër (412 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.4 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 43 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 30, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Albania (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: 128 · 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.
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
How we know this
- Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
- Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 24 July 2025 to 4 August 2025. 467 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- We have not matched this page with any official record.
- Checked against news and agencies: 4 confirmed sources.
- 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.
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 (Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic). 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.