Valchedram fire, October 2024 Вълчедръм · Valchedram, Yakimovo
The fire started on 25 October 2024 in Valchedram, Bulgaria, and satellites saw it burning for 1 day. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 137 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 14th largest in Montana since 2016 (of 19 with a page). Number 50 in Bulgaria in 2024, of 62.
The power measured by the satellite is low (6.4 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.
- Burnt area
- 137ha
- Copernicus perimeter
- Duration
- 1day
- 25 Oct 2024 – 25 Oct 2024
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 25 Oct
- 2024
- Heat detections
- 2
- in a single hotspot: 6 MW
- Danger at start
- 18
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 9MW
- 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 13 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
16% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 22 ha in 2023.
What happened to each town
-
79 ha reached on 25 Oct0.2 %
-
58 ha0.2 %
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
- Agricultural areas58 %
- Scrub and transitional woodland22 %
- Broadleaved forest20 %
Natura 2000 protected area affected: 98 %
- LIC Tsibritsa BG0000509
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 | 20.5 °C | 26 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 26 Oct after | 21.8 °C | 23 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 27 Oct after | 22.2 °C | 17 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 28 Oct after | 27.5 °C | 23 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 29 Oct after | 21.6 °C | 43 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 30 Oct after | 21.9 °C | 38 % | 16 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 31 Oct after | 22.9 °C | 35 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 1 Nov after | 22.0 °C | 34 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 2 Nov after | 23.3 °C | 31 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 3 Nov after | 14.1 °C | 27 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 4 Nov after | 17.9 °C | 23 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
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 24 October 2024 the air beside the fire reached 16 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO 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 · 2Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Valchedram fire last?
- Copernicus dates it between 25 October 2024 and 25 October 2024: 1 day between the first and last image with fire.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 137 hectares (1.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Valchedram (79 ha, 0.2 %); Yakimovo (58 ha, 0.2 %).
- Did the fire reach a town?
- The closest fire to a town centre came within 3.8 km of Valchedram. 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 20.5 °C, humidity dropped to 26 % and gusts hit 24 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 18, class Moderate.
- 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
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.