Thebes fire, 17 July 2023 Θηβαίων · Thebes
The fire started on 17 July 2023 in Thebes, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 109 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 48th largest in Central Greece since 2016 (of 53 with a page). Number 32 in Greece in 2023, of 34.
Compare with…
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
- 109ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 17 Jul 2023 – 17 Jul 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 17 Jul
- 2023
- Danger at start
- 49
- Very high · FWI index
Where it burned
The weather it burned in
It had gone 11 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
-
109 ha0.1 %
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
- Agricultural areas75 %
- Sclerophyllous scrub25 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Jul | 34.8 °C | 27 % | 60 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 18 Jul after | 36.2 °C | 27 % | 59 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 19 Jul after | 36.8 °C | 23 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 20 Jul after | 39.4 °C | 18 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 21 Jul after | 38.7 °C | 23 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 22 Jul after | 39.7 °C | 20 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 23 Jul after | 41.7 °C | 15 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 24 Jul after | 36.8 °C | 27 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 25 Jul after | 38.0 °C | 22 % | 27 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 26 Jul after | 41.0 °C | 16 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 27 Jul after | 34.7 °C | 22 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
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 15 July 2023 the air beside the fire reached 22 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 19: 1.3 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)
Other fires nearby
- 13,192 haMandra-Eidyllia Μάνδρας - Ειδυλλίας31 July 2026 · 6 days · 13 km away
- 10,175 haVilia Μάνδρας - ΕιδυλλίαςAugust 2021 · 8 days · 16 km away
- 3,735 haThebes ΘηβαίωνJuly 2026 · 2 days · 17 km away
- 7,005 haGerania Λουτρακίου - Περαχώρας - Αγίων ΘεοδώρωνMay 2021 · 5 days · 23 km away
- 11,662 haDervenochoria Μάνδρας - ΕιδυλλίαςJuly 2023 · 7 days · 26 km away
- 5,568 haKineta ΜέγαραJuly 2018 · 3 days · 27 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Thebes fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 17 July 2023 and 17 July 2023: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 109 hectares (1.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Thebes (109 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 34.8 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 60 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, 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 · 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 from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. No Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
- We have not matched this page with any official record.
- Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
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.