The planet’s fires, day after day
Each point is a 1° cell where the VIIRS satellites detected fires over the last days; its size follows the total radiative power, a measure of fire intensity. In October, the savannas of southern Africa, northern Australia and the peatlands of Indonesia dominate.
- < 1 000 MW
- 1 000–5 000 MW
- 5 000–20 000 MW
- ≥ 20 000 MW
VIIRS 375 m detections (NOAA-20, Suomi NPP), 1° cells; volcanoes and static heat sources left out.
Active fires worldwide
Show the data as a table
Burnt areas in 2026, Europe, Middle East and North Africa
Show the data as a table
| Country | ha | Fires |
|---|---|---|
| Algeria | 167,726 | 325 |
| Ukraine | 131,926 | 1115 |
| Bosnia & Herzegovina | 48,162 | 198 |
| Italy | 39,549 | 1009 |
| Montenegro | 33,753 | 112 |
| Türkiye | 29,359 | 184 |
| Albania | 21,843 | 214 |
| North Macedonia | 20,861 | 75 |
| Portugal | 20,073 | 195 |
| Croatia | 17,836 | 49 |
| Romania | 16,866 | 270 |
| Serbia | 16,095 | 202 |
| Spain | 15,723 | 254 |
| Tunisia | 8,395 | 175 |
| Bulgaria | 6,785 | 92 |
| Start | Place | ha | Forest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-25 | N.A. DZ | 20,705 | 86 % |
| 2026-08-26 | N.A. DZ | 16,989 | 76 % |
| 2026-08-26 | N.A. DZ | 15,144 | 71 % |
| 2026-08-24 | Црна Гора ME | 14,076 | 44 % |
| 2026-09-04 | Prozor-Rama BA | 13,227 | 2 % |
| 2026-08-26 | N.A. DZ | 13,050 | 63 % |
| 2026-08-26 | N.A. DZ | 7,240 | 51 % |
| 2026-08-26 | N.A. DZ | 7,239 | 48 % |
| 2026-08-17 | Пелагониски MK | 6,137 | 13 % |
| 2026-08-26 | N.A. DZ | 5,912 | 79 % |
Active fires. VIIRS 375 m detections from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP (NASA FIRMS, Schroeder et al., 2014), global files of the last 7 days read every day. Left out: detections within 5 km of a Holocene volcano (Volcanoes page) and static heat sources, identified as points of about 1 km (0.01°) detected on at least 6 days out of 8 (gas flares, industry, unlisted volcanoes). The rest is aggregated per 1° cell and UTC day, with the radiative power (FRP, MW).
Burnt areas. Fires mapped by EFFIS (Copernicus EMS, San-Miguel-Ayanz et al., 2012) from MODIS and VIIRS imagery, from about 30 ha, with the share of each land cover (Corine Land Cover). Current season in full; history of fires of 500 ha and more since 2000. Perimeters are not kept.
A detection is a hot pixel at the satellite overpass, not an area: clouds and thick plumes hide fires, small and understorey fires often escape the satellites, and one fire counts as many times as it is seen. A fire smouldering long at the same place (peatlands) may be taken for a static source and left out.
EFFIS does not map small fires and its coverage widened over the years: compare years country by country. The fire weather index (FWI) will be added with the Copernicus key.
- VIIRS 375 m active fires and thermal anomalies, last 7 days (NASA FIRMS; volcano positions from the GVP)
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NRT VIIRS 375 m Active Fire products VJ114IMGTDL_NRT (NOAA-20, doi:10.5067/FIRMS/VIIRS/VJ114IMGTDL_NRT.002) and VNP14IMGTDL_NRT (Suomi NPP, doi:10.5067/FIRMS/VIIRS/VNP14IMGT_NRT.002), distributed by NASA FIRMS; Schroeder et al. (2014). Volcano positions: Global Volcanism Program (2024), Volcanoes of the World v. 5.2.x.
· doi:10.5067/FIRMS/VIIRS/VJ114IMGTDL_NRT.002 · source page ↗
Licence : NASA open data (no restriction, citation requested); volcano positions: Smithsonian GVP, non-commercial use with citation · retrieved on Oct 25, 2026 · SHA-256 57878c0feee5… - Burnt areas of the current fire season in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EFFIS)
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European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), Copernicus Emergency Management Service: rapid damage assessment of burnt areas. San-Miguel-Ayanz, J., et al. (2012). Comprehensive monitoring of wildfires in Europe: the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). InTech.
· doi:10.5772/28441 · source page ↗
Licence : CC BY 4.0 (Commission reuse policy): credit EFFIS / Copernicus EMS and indicate changes (here: perimeters dropped, areas aggregated) · retrieved on Oct 25, 2026 · SHA-256 0537fb7c8383… - Schroeder et al. (2014)
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Schroeder, W., Oliva, P., Giglio, L., & Csiszar, I. A. (2014). The New VIIRS 375 m active fire detection data product: Algorithm description and initial assessment. Remote Sensing of Environment, 143, 85–96.
· doi:10.1016/j.rse.2013.12.008
Licence : Published literature; cited - San-Miguel-Ayanz et al. (2012)
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San-Miguel-Ayanz, J., Schulte, E., Schmuck, G., Camia, A., et al. (2012). Comprehensive monitoring of wildfires in Europe: the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). In Approaches to Managing Disaster. InTech.
· doi:10.5772/28441
Licence : Published literature; cited