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UK · United Kingdom · –

Wiltshire fire, 15 May 2025 Wiltshire

Out · last measured on 16 May 2025

The fire started on 15 May 2025 in Wiltshire, United Kingdom, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 114 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 27th largest in England since 2016 (of 29 with a page). Number 11 in United Kingdom in 2025, of 12.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Devon · 2025Powys · 2022Wiltshire · 2022Wiltshire · 2018

We have the Copernicus perimeter for this fire, but not yet its hotspots: NASA publishes the yearly hotspot archive only once the year closes. The page picks it up automatically when it is available.

Burnt area
114ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
2days
15 May 2025 – 16 May 2025
Municipalities hit
1
districts
Started on
15 May
2025
Danger at start
8
Low · FWI index
Protected area
100%
of the perimeter is protected land

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

20°high
37km/h · peak gust
37%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 9.4 mm on 21 May.

This area had burned before

78% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 16 ha in 2018, 72 ha in 2022.

What happened to each town

  1. Wiltshire where it started
    114 ha
    0.0 %

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

  • Other natural land100 %

Protected area affected (EFFIS layer): 100 %

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)
15 May 16.1 °C 55 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
16 May 19.9 °C 37 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
17 May after 17.1 °C 50 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
18 May after 17.7 °C 49 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
19 May after 17.0 °C 51 % 30 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 15
20 May after 20.6 °C 34 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
21 May after 17.5 °C 64 % 35 km/h 9.4 mm Very low 0

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 7.7, a minimum humidity of 55% and 1 day without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2018: 17.

FWI at the start 7.7
Minimum humidity 55 %
Days without rain 1
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Devon fire, May 2025
383 ha 2 days FWI 5.9 Min. humidity 55 % 165 km away, in 2025

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 4.3 mm on 11 May.

See its page Compare with this fire

What happened to them

2 days
median duration
218 ha
median area
24 %
went past 1,000 ha
6.3 mm
rain at the end (median; 14 of 17 had it)

It stayed below its twins: 114 ha against a median of 218 ha. It lasted 2 days, against 2 days.

In 3 of 17, 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 6.3 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

9.4 mmfirst rain
21 May5 days after it ended
37km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 16 May, and on 21 May 9.4 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 14 of 17, with a median of 6.3 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 2018.
  • 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 · 8 May 2025
After · 23 May 2025

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 19 May 2025 the air beside the fire reached 21 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak21 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1026 µg/m³
Optical depth0.45
14 May16 May18 May
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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in United Kingdom

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Wiltshire fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 15 May 2025 to 16 May 2025 (2 days). The perimeter dates it from 16 May 2025 to 16 May 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 114 hectares (1.1 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Wiltshire (114 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 19.9 °C, humidity dropped to 37 % and gusts hit 37 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 14, class Moderate.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of United Kingdom (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 2018 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 17. Their median duration was 2 days and their median area 218 ha; 24 % went past 1,000 ha. In 3 of 17, 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 6.3 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: 999 · 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 999 · 112.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 16 May 2025 to 16 May 2025. 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.

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 ADM3 (Open Government Licence v3.0). 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.