Fire near Sofia (MG)

15.34°S, 48.51°E · first detected on 13 October at 23:50

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 13 October at 23:50 to 21 October at 12:47, that is 8 days, through 399 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 3,781 ha.

Detected extent: 3,781 ha
Cumulative power: 3,779 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 111 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 399
Estimated emissions: 16.8 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 13 October 2026 to 20 October 2026. An order-of-magnitude estimate from GFAS (ECMWF, Copernicus CAMS): it also counts neighbouring fires in the same cell. Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information (2026). Published data stop on 20 October 2026.

These four figures cover the polar orbits alone, the ones that measure an area. The pass table below also counts geostationary detections, more frequent but too coarse for geometry, and its power column sums a whole pass where the peak above is that of a single pixel.

“Detected extent” is not “burned area”: it is the union of the ground footprints of the satellite pixels, and a pixel counts in full (375 m for VIIRS, 1 km for MODIS) even when only a forest edge is burning. Compared with press figures it is in practice one and a half to three times the area reported. Detections taken at the edge of the scan swath, too coarse to measure anything at all, are excluded. These figures come from thermal detection and are not an official assessment: only the emergency services and the competent authorities are authoritative.

Replay how the fire spread

The map is framed on this fire's footprint and loads only its detections. The timeline below covers the period in which satellites saw it, from the first to the last detection, with twelve hours before and twenty-four after; the ticks on the bar mark the emergency services' announcements that fall within it. The cursor opens on the most powerful pass, and playback replays the whole fire in about thirty seconds. “1 h” shows what is burning within an hour of the chosen moment : the map then follows the power curve below and empties when it falls. “24 h” stacks twenty-four hours : a fire stays visible between two satellite passes, which come two to four times a day. Both are true, but they say different things.

How the radiative power evolved

One point per satellite pass: the sum of the fire radiative power measured over the fire. This is the curve that says whether the fire eased off or picked up again, which no cumulative figure shows. The window covers 10 days; beyond that, clustering would merge two successive fires in the same place.

Fire dynamics

Loading history…

Satellite passes in detail

Pass	Power summed over the pass	Detections	Sensor
21 October at 11:49	17 MW	1	N21
20 October at 13:06	22 MW	3	N20
19 October at 16:23	10 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 16:13	22 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 16:03	22 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 15:53	11 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 15:49	23 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 15:34	25 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 15:33	12 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 15:19	106 MW	4	Met9
19 October at 15:04	53 MW	2	Met9
19 October at 15:03	11 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 14:49	60 MW	2	Met9
19 October at 14:43	49 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 14:34	36 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 14:23	21 MW	1	Aqua
19 October at 14:19	79 MW	2	Met9
19 October at 14:13	55 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 14:04	78 MW	2	Met9
19 October at 14:03	26 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 13:53	47 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 13:43	77 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 13:25	75 MW	6	N20
19 October at 13:06	29 MW	2	N
19 October at 11:43	1 MW	1	N20
19 October at 00:52	1 MW	1	N20
18 October at 23:55	18 MW	6	N21
18 October at 22:23	24 MW	1	Met12
18 October at 21:49	37 MW	2	Met9
18 October at 20:35	65 MW	3	Met9
18 October at 20:34	41 MW	1	Met10
18 October at 20:33	19 MW	1	Met12
18 October at 20:23	28 MW	2	Met12
18 October at 20:13	11 MW	1	Met12
18 October at 20:04	34 MW	1	Met10
18 October at 20:03	13 MW	1	Met12
18 October at 19:54	31 MW	2	Terra
18 October at 12:47	9 MW	2	N21
18 October at 10:43	62 MW	2	Met12
18 October at 05:34	17 MW	1	Met9
18 October at 04:19	49 MW	2	Met9
18 October at 04:13	12 MW	1	Met12
18 October at 04:04	36 MW	2	Met9
18 October at 03:49	15 MW	1	Met9
18 October at 03:34	33 MW	2	Met9
18 October at 03:04	52 MW	2	Met9
18 October at 02:34	19 MW	1	Met9
18 October at 02:23	11 MW	1	Met12
18 October at 02:19	38 MW	1	Met10
18 October at 02:19	73 MW	3	Met9
18 October at 00:52	12 MW	12	N
18 October at 00:14	49 MW	12	N21
17 October at 23:31	25 MW	12	N20
17 October at 19:17	23 MW	2	Terra
17 October at 13:06	209 MW	15	N21
17 October at 12:21	258 MW	14	N20
17 October at 12:02	371 MW	18	N
17 October at 07:04	25 MW	2	Terra
17 October at 02:35	9 MW	1	Aqua
17 October at 01:09	9 MW	4	N
17 October at 00:33	12 MW	3	N21
16 October at 23:50	12 MW	5	N20
16 October at 23:29	21 MW	9	N
16 October at 14:06	87 MW	2	Aqua
16 October at 12:43	75 MW	8	N20
16 October at 12:21	49 MW	5	N
16 October at 11:43	12 MW	2	N21
16 October at 00:52	11 MW	4	N21
16 October at 00:08	24 MW	21	N20
15 October at 23:50	25 MW	11	N
15 October at 23:12	13 MW	5	N21
15 October at 19:37	71 MW	6	Terra
15 October at 13:00	461 MW	27	N20
15 October at 12:41	266 MW	31	N
15 October at 12:04	248 MW	15	N21
15 October at 02:56	181 MW	4	Aqua
15 October at 00:27	60 MW	28	N20
15 October at 00:08	65 MW	31	N
14 October at 23:31	51 MW	22	N21
14 October at 14:29	345 MW	9	Aqua
14 October at 13:17	175 MW	9	N20
14 October at 13:00	298 MW	14	N
14 October at 12:21	114 MW	10	N21
14 October at 11:37	17 MW	4	N20
14 October at 00:46	1 MW	1	N20
14 October at 00:27	5 MW	4	N
13 October at 23:50	4 MW	2	N21

8 other fires near Sofia (MG)

Separate fires, apart in time or in space, not pieces of this one. A single municipality can have several over one summer, and a forest massif often covers more than a hundred square kilometres.

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