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Vasylivka fire, 29 August 2023 Василівський район · Vasylivka

Out · last detection 8 Sept 2023, 09:50 UTC

The fire started on 29 August 2023 in Vasylivka, Ukraine, and satellites saw it burning for 11 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 422 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 58th largest in Zaporizhzhia Oblast since 2016 (of 490 with a page). Number 91 in Ukraine in 2023, of 491.

The power measured by the satellite is low (5.0 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Mykhailivka · 2024Vasylivka · 2024Zaporizhia · 2023Orikhiv · 2024

Burnt area
422ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
11days
29 Aug 2023 – 8 Sept 2023
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
29 Aug
2023
Heat detections
12
in a single hotspot: 5 MW
Danger at start
29
High · FWI index
Average daily power
8MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 29 Aug8 Sept
8 Sept 2023

How it evolved, day by day

29 Aug 2023 · 4 MW · 3 30 Aug 2023 · 13 MW · 3 7 Sept 2023 · 6 MW · 3 8 Sept 2023 · 7 MW · 3
29 Aug 30 Aug 7 Sept 8 Sept

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

31°high
35km/h · peak gust
30%lowest humidity

It had gone 16 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 16.3 mm on 15 Sept.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Vasylivka Василівський район 61,897 inhabitants · 10.8 km from the centre where it started
    423 ha reached on 29 Aug
    0.3 %

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 areas55 %
  • Other natural land26 %
  • Artificial surfaces12 %
  • Mixed forest6.4 %

Land cover inside the perimeter as reported by Copernicus EFFIS (outside the Corine Land Cover area).

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area2.2 ha
Residents≈ 70

Inside the perimeter there were about 2.2 hectares of built-up land and about 70 residents (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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 Aug 30.9 °C 43 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
30 Aug 27.4 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
31 Aug 30.5 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
1 Sept 27.4 °C 62 % 31 km/h 9.0 mm High 23
2 Sept 24.6 °C 54 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
3 Sept 25.6 °C 46 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
4 Sept 26.6 °C 48 % 32 km/h 0.5 mm High 24
5 Sept 26.6 °C 39 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
6 Sept 26.5 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
7 Sept 24.4 °C 46 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
8 Sept 21.6 °C 35 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
9 Sept after 19.6 °C 42 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
10 Sept after 20.6 °C 41 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
11 Sept after 22.3 °C 42 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
12 Sept after 22.7 °C 42 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
13 Sept after 24.7 °C 34 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
14 Sept after 24.6 °C 44 % 20 km/h 0.1 mm High 25
15 Sept after 21.3 °C 78 % 34 km/h 16.3 mm Very low 4

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 29.4, a minimum humidity of 43% and 16 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2021: 54.

FWI at the start 29.4
Minimum humidity 43 %
Days without rain 16
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Mykhailivka fire, June 2024
928 ha 3 days FWI 30.4 Min. humidity 45 % 22 km away, in 2024

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.9 mm on 5 Jul.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

3 days
median duration
189 ha
median area
6 %
went past 1,000 ha
3.2 mm
rain at the end (median; 37 of 54 had it)

It was 2.2 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 11 days, against 3 days.

Only 10 of its 54 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 17 of 54, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.2 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

16.3 mmfirst rain
15 Sept7 days after it ended
35km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 8 Sept, and on 15 Sept 16.3 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 37 of 54, with a median of 3.2 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2021.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 22 Aug 2023
After · 15 Sept 2023

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 August 2023 the air beside the fire reached 48 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 21: 1.4 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak48 µg/m³
Days over the guideline1 day
PM1057 µg/m³
Optical depth0.94
27 Aug31 Aug4 Sept8 Sept
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)

Detections table · 12Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Ukraine

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Vasylivka fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 29 August 2023 to 8 September 2023 (11 days). The perimeter dates it from 30 August 2023 to 2 September 2023.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 422 hectares (4.2 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Vasylivka (423 ha, 0.3 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Vasylivka and came within 10.8 km of its centre. That is the distance from the perimeter, or the nearest hotspot, to the point marking the centre; it does not mean it entered the houses.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 30.9 °C, humidity dropped to 30 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Ukraine (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2021 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 54. Their median duration was 3 days and their median area 189 ha; 6 % went past 1,000 ha. Only 10 of its 54 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 17 of 54, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 3.2 mm.

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: 101 · 112 · 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.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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 101 · 112.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 30 August 2023 to 2 September 2023. 12 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.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.