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Svilengrad fire, August 2016 Свиленград · Topolovgrad

Out · last measured on 14 Aug 2016

The fire started on 14 August 2016 in Svilengrad, Bulgaria, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 269 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 30th largest in Haskovo since 2016 (of 46 with a page). Number 13 in Bulgaria in 2016, of 24.

We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
269ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
1day
14 Aug 2016 – 14 Aug 2016
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
14 Aug
2016
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Natura 2000
100%
of the perimeter is protected land

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

28°high
36km/h · peak gust
27%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 6.1 mm on 22 Aug.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Topolovgrad Тополовград 8,260 inhabitants · 17.8 km from the town
    269 ha
    0.4 %

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

  • Agricultural areas56 %
  • Other natural land40 %
  • Broadleaved forest3.7 %

Natura 2000 protected area affected: 100 %

  • ZEPA + LIC Sakar BG0000212 · BG0002021

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)
14 Aug 28.0 °C 27 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
15 Aug after 28.8 °C 32 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
16 Aug after 30.5 °C 33 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
17 Aug after 31.7 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
18 Aug after 31.6 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
19 Aug after 30.3 °C 41 % 36 km/h 0.5 mm High 34
20 Aug after 30.6 °C 39 % 45 km/h 0.2 mm High 37
21 Aug after 32.7 °C 36 % 47 km/h 0.3 mm High 37
22 Aug after 33.4 °C 38 % 45 km/h 6.1 mm Low 10

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 7 Aug 2016
After · 21 Aug 2016

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Other fires nearby

All fires in Bulgaria ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Svilengrad fire last?
Copernicus dates it between 14 August 2016 and 14 August 2016: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 269 hectares (2.7 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Topolovgrad (269 ha, 0.4 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The closest fire to a town centre came within 17.8 km of Topolovgrad. 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 28.0 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Bulgaria (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

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.

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 (Public Domain). 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.