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MK · North Macedonia · –

Zelenikovo fire, August 2017 Општина Зелениково · Zelenikovo

Out · last detection 12 Aug 2017, 01:32 UTC

The fire started on 11 August 2017 in Zelenikovo, North Macedonia, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus mapped a burnt perimeter of 242 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 15th largest in Skopje since 2016 (of 31 with a page). Number 27 in North Macedonia in 2017, of 44.

The power measured by the satellite is low (10.6 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
242ha
Copernicus perimeter
Duration
2days
11 Aug 2017 – 12 Aug 2017
Municipalities hit
1
municipalities
Started on
11 Aug
2017
Heat detections
5
in a single hotspot: 11 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Average daily power
11MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 11 Aug12 Aug
12 Aug 2017

How it evolved, day by day

11 Aug 2017 · 20 MW · 3 12 Aug 2017 · 3 MW · 2
11 Aug 12 Aug

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
41km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 8.7 mm on 13 Aug.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Zelenikovo Општина Зелениково 3,361 inhabitants · 6.0 km from the centre where it started
    242 ha reached on 11 Aug
    1.4 %

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 land75 %
  • Scrub and transitional woodland14 %
  • Broadleaved forest11 %

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)
11 Aug 37.8 °C 22 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Aug 37.8 °C 13 % 41 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 44
13 Aug after 21.0 °C 58 % 49 km/h 8.7 mm Very low 2

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 35.5, a minimum humidity of 22% and 2 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 56.

FWI at the start 35.5
Minimum humidity 22 %
Days without rain 2
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Dolneni fire, September 2023
389 ha 5 days FWI 35.8 Min. humidity 21 % 37 km away, in 2023

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 3.8 mm on 6 Oct.

What happened to them

3 days
median duration
260 ha
median area
14 %
went past 1,000 ha
3.4 mm
rain at the end (median; 52 of 56 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (242 ha against a median of 260 ha) and lasted 2 days, against 3 days.

In 4 of 56, 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 3.4 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

8.7 mmfirst rain
13 Augthe day after it ended
41km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 12 Aug, and on 13 Aug 8.7 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 52 of 56, with a median of 3.4 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 2016.
  • 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 · 4 Aug 2017
After · 19 Aug 2017

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 12 August 2017 the air beside the fire reached 34 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 22: 1.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak34 µg/m³
Days over the guideline4 days
PM1054 µg/m³
10 Aug12 Aug14 Aug
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 · 5Every 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 North Macedonia

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Zelenikovo fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 11 August 2017 to 12 August 2017 (2 days). The perimeter dates it from 12 August 2017 to 12 August 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter Copernicus measured from satellite imagery is 242 hectares (2.4 km²). Official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Zelenikovo (242 ha, 1.4 %).
Did the fire reach a town?
The fire started in Zelenikovo and came within 6.0 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 37.8 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the EFFIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of North Macedonia (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 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 56. Their median duration was 3 days and their median area 260 ha; 14 % went past 1,000 ha. In 4 of 56, 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 3.4 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: 193 · 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.

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 193 · 112.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: EFFIS (Copernicus), mapped on satellite imagery.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 12 August 2017 to 12 August 2017. 5 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 ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.