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Sitia fire, July 2026 Δημοτική Ενότητα Σητείας · Sitia

Out · last measured on 29 Jul 2026

The fire started on 29 July 2026 in Sitia, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 441 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 10th largest in Crete since 2016 (of 25 with a page). Number 14 in Greece in 2026, of 28.

We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but not yet its hotspots: NASA publishes the yearly hotspot archive only once the year closes. The page picks it up automatically when it is available.

Burnt area
441ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
29 Jul 2026 – 29 Jul 2026
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
29 Jul
2026
Danger at start
48
Very high · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

30°high
116km/h · peak gust
44%lowest humidity

It had gone 20 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

  1. Sitia Δημοτική Ενότητα Σητείας 15,313 inhabitants · 17.3 km from the town where it started
    441 ha
    0.7 %

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 land74 %
  • Sclerophyllous scrub12 %
  • Agricultural areas9.0 %
  • Artificial surfaces4.6 %

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)
29 Jul 29.5 °C 44 % 116 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
30 Jul after 28.6 °C 44 % 100 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
31 Jul after 29.6 °C 39 % 87 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
1 Aug after 28.7 °C 54 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
2 Aug after 28.6 °C 56 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
3 Aug after 29.7 °C 51 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
4 Aug after 31.0 °C 40 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
5 Aug after 30.6 °C 39 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
6 Aug after 30.8 °C 48 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
7 Aug after 31.8 °C 35 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
8 Aug after 30.5 °C 42 % 73 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 22 Jul 2026
After · 5 Aug 2026

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 28 July 2026 the air beside the fire reached 14 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak14 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1029 µg/m³
Optical depth0.29
27282930311
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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Greece ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Sitia fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 29 July 2026 and 29 July 2026: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 441 hectares (4.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Sitia (441 ha, 0.7 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The closest fire to a town centre came within 17.3 km of Sitia. 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 29.5 °C, humidity dropped to 44 % and gusts hit 116 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 48, class Very 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
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 · 199.

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.