Sithonia fire, October 2018 Δημοτική Ενότητα Σιθωνίας · Sithonia
The fire started on 25 October 2018 in Sithonia, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 610 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 5th largest in Central Macedonia since 2016 (of 21 with a page). Number 4 in Greece in 2018, of 17.
- Burnt area
- 610ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 2days
- 25 Oct 2018 – 26 Oct 2018
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 25 Oct
- 2018
- Heat detections
- 36
- in a single hotspot: 88 MW
- Danger at start
- 22
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 976MW
- 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 4 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
-
610 ha reached on 25 Oct1.2 %
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
- Mixed forest67 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland29 %
- Sclerophyllous scrub4.1 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 82 %
- LIC OROS ITAMOS - SITHONIA GR1270002
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Oct | 18.1 °C | 25 % | 70 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 26 Oct | 20.9 °C | 34 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 11 |
| 27 Oct after | 22.4 °C | 57 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 28 Oct after | 22.7 °C | 67 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 8 |
| 29 Oct after | 21.2 °C | 69 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 6 |
| 30 Oct after | 21.5 °C | 72 % | 29 km/h | 0.2 mm | Low 6 |
| 31 Oct after | 22.9 °C | 67 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 5 |
| 1 Nov after | 22.4 °C | 67 % | 19 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 5 |
| 2 Nov after | 23.3 °C | 54 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 3 Nov after | 20.9 °C | 57 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 9 |
| 4 Nov after | 20.5 °C | 45 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 5 Nov after | 19.6 °C | 57 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
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 23 October 2018 the air beside the fire reached 18 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 15: 1.0 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 · 36Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Sithonia fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 25 October 2018 and 26 October 2018: 2 days between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 610 hectares (6.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Sithonia (610 ha, 1.2 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 17.4 km of Sithonia. 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 20.9 °C, humidity dropped to 25 % and gusts hit 70 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 22, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Greece (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 · 199
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 ADM3 (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication). 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.