Thebes fire, July 2026 Θηβαίων · Thebes
The fire started on 31 July 2026 in Thebes, Greece, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 3,735 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 3th largest in Central Greece since 2016 (of 53 with a page). Number 3 in Greece in 2026, of 28.
- Burnt area
- 3,735ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 31 Jul 2026 – 31 Jul 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- municipalities
- Started on
- 31 Jul
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 130
- in a single hotspot: 48 MW
- Danger at start
- 81
- Very extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.3GW
- 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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 9 Aug.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
3,653 ha reached on 31 Jul4.4 %
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
- Sclerophyllous scrub58 %
- Agricultural areas31 %
- Other natural land10 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Jul | 29.9 °C | 32 % | 84 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 81 |
| 1 Aug after | 29.5 °C | 34 % | 84 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 83 |
| 2 Aug after | 30.9 °C | 31 % | 63 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 3 Aug after | 33.4 °C | 23 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 4 Aug after | 34.7 °C | 22 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 5 Aug after | 34.9 °C | 21 % | 59 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 6 Aug after | 33.9 °C | 28 % | 70 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 80 |
| 7 Aug after | 34.8 °C | 28 % | 40 km/h | 0.5 mm | Very high 38 |
| 8 Aug after | 34.9 °C | 27 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 9 Aug after | 32.5 °C | 37 % | 67 km/h | 1.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
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 3 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 112 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 46: 3.1 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 · 130Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 3,614 haThebes Θηβαίων21 August 2023 · 5 days · 15 km away
- 13,192 haMandra-Eidyllia Δημοτική Ενότητα Μάνδρας Αττικής31 July 2026 · 1 day · 24 km away
- 7,005 haGerania Δημοτική Ενότητα ΜΕΓΑΡΕΩΝMay 2021 · 5 days · 26 km away
- 5,189 haLivadeia ΛεβαδέωνAugust 2023 · 4 days · 29 km away
- 10,175 haVilia Δημοτική Ενότητα Μάνδρας ΑττικήςAugust 2021 · 8 days · 31 km away
- 5,568 haKineta Δημοτική Ενότητα ΜΕΓΑΡΕΩΝJuly 2018 · 3 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Thebes fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 31 July 2026 and 31 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 3,735 hectares (37.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Thebes (3,653 ha, 4.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 29.9 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 84 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 81, class Very extreme.
- 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.