Semestene fire, July 2024 Semestene, Pozzomaggiore, Macomer
The fire started on 21 July 2024 in Semestene, Italy, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 452 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 5th largest in Tàttari/Sassari since 2016 (of 17 with a page). Number 10 in Italy in 2024, of 112.
The power measured by the satellite is low (24.4 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
- 452ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 3days
- 21 Jul 2024 – 23 Jul 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 21 Jul
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 2
- in a single hotspot: 24 MW
- Danger at start
- 51
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 49MW
- 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 26 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
445 ha reached on 23 Jul11 %
-
Pozzomaggiore 2,376 inhabitants · 6.0 km from the town5 ha0.1 %
-
Macomer 1,956 inhabitants · 14.8 km from the town2 ha reached on 23 Jul0.0 %
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
- Scrub and transitional woodland79 %
- Agricultural areas21 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 100 %
- LIC Altopiano di Campeda ITB021101
- ZEPA Piana di Semestene, Bonorva, Macomer e Bortigali ITB023050
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.
Official record
According to CFVA Sardegna, this fire started on 21 July 2024 and burned 434 ha (the satellite measured 452 ha).
- Semestene N.ghe Accas 21 July 2024 434 ha
Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, Corpo Forestale e di Vigilanza Ambientale: perimetri delle aree percorse dal fuoco (CC BY 4.0). This is the agency’s consolidated statistic: it measures the area in its own way, which is why it can differ from the satellite.
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Jul | 35.5 °C | 20 % | 52 km/h | 0.5 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 22 Jul | 25.0 °C | 49 % | 45 km/h | 1.1 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 23 Jul | 27.0 °C | 46 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 24 Jul after | 28.7 °C | 44 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 25 Jul after | 27.9 °C | 42 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 26 Jul after | 31.1 °C | 36 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 27 Jul after | 33.5 °C | 34 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 28 Jul after | 35.3 °C | 24 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 29 Jul after | 35.3 °C | 19 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 30 Jul after | 35.2 °C | 28 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 31 Jul after | 34.5 °C | 22 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 1 Aug after | 35.2 °C | 22 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 2 Aug after | 36.2 °C | 17 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
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 21 July 2024 the air beside the fire reached 16 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO 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 · 2Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Semestene fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 21 July 2024 and 23 July 2024: 3 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 452 hectares (4.5 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Semestene (445 ha, 11 %); Pozzomaggiore (5 ha, 0.1 %); Macomer (2 ha, 0.0 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 3.3 km of Semestene. That is the distance to the perimeter or nearest hotspot; it does not mean it entered the houses.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.5 °C, humidity dropped to 20 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 51, class Extreme.
- 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.