EUROFIRE

2 Aug 2026

Not official · educational purpose only · follow official civil protection sources

About & sources

EUROFIRE is a discovery interface for current European forest-fire activity and historic context. Transparency on data limits is part of the product.

Strong disclaimer

EUROFIRE is not an official emergency alert system, not a live operational feed, and not a substitute for civil-protection orders, evacuation notices, or local emergency services.

EUROFIRE is an amateur-built intelligence briefing interface for discovery and education. It is not an official emergency alert channel. For life-safety decisions follow national civil protection authorities and local emergency services. Active-fire records are a curated operational snapshot (not a live satellite feed) calibrated to public EFFIS/JRC figures and widely reported incidents as of early August 2026.

EU emergency number: 112

Primary data sources

EFFIS — European Forest Fire Information System

Copernicus EMS / European Commission JRC

Open
  • Active fire hotspots (MODIS/VIIRS)
  • Rapid Damage Assessment burnt perimeters
  • Fire Weather Index danger forecasts
  • Seasonal burnt-area statistics

Update cadence: Hotspots several times daily; RDA refined as imagery allows. Primary pan-European operational reference. Maps fires roughly ≥30 ha; may include prescribed burns.

JRC current wildfire situation in Europe

Joint Research Centre

Open
  • YTD burnt area
  • Fire counts
  • CO₂ estimates
  • FWI outlook

Update cadence: Periodic season bulletins. Used for 2026 headline EU totals in this app (as of 29 Jul 2026).

GWIS — Global Wildfire Information System

JRC / international partners

Open
  • Global active fires
  • Danger forecasts
  • Open data services

Update cadence: Near real-time. Global counterpart building on EFFIS methods.

National civil protection & fire services

Member states & partners

Open
  • Evacuations
  • Containment status
  • Cause investigations

Update cadence: Incident-driven. Containment %, home threat, and evacuation figures come from national reporting relayed via official and major news sources.

Methodology

What counts as a fire

EFFIS Rapid Damage Assessment typically maps burnt areas from roughly 30 hectares upward using MODIS, VIIRS and Sentinel imagery. National systems may include much smaller ignitions, so country totals can differ from EFFIS.

Status categories

Out of control = multiple uncontrolled fronts or aerial assets grounded by weather. Active = still burning with incomplete perimeter control. Contained = little/no perimeter growth expected. Under control = residual activity only. Extinguished = declared out.

Size classification

Spot <1 ha · Small 1–100 · Medium 100–500 · Large 500–2,000 · Very large 2,000–10,000 · Megafire >10,000 ha. Classes summarise burned area, not flame length or intensity.

Threat to homes & vacation spots

Derived from evacuation orders, proximity to settlements/resort infrastructure, and official threat messaging. ‘Threatens vacation spots’ flags tourism infrastructure or holidaymaker evacuations — not a booking advice product.

Growth state

Expanding / stable / diminishing / out. When authorities explicitly report stabilisation, containment, or free-running fronts, confidence is marked “From reports”. Otherwise growth is estimated from operational status and perimeter-control % — not a multi-day satellite growth series.

Spread drivers

Wind direction/label and ‘likely toward’ text summarise expected run when reporting or regional meteorology supports it. Confidence “From reports” = stated in sources; estimated = inferred from notes, typical wind regimes, and geography; unknown = no reliable directional data. Not a formal fire-behaviour model forecast.

Recent trend (~48h)

Worsening / improving / stable summarises change since the last update window. Area-change figures are estimated from reporting, not a certified multi-scene satellite delta. Use for traveler orientation only.

Travel caution & holiday mode

Travel caution (Avoid / Limit outdoor plans / Monitor / Low concern) is derived from status, growth, perimeter control, evacuations, and tourism/home exposure. Holiday mode filters tourism-linked fires (resorts, coasts, airports) and sorts by caution. Not an evacuation order.

Smoke risk (estimated)

High / elevated / low smoke risk is inferred from burned area, growth state, and nearby people. It is not an official air-quality index (AQI) reading.

Access impact & nearby places

Road, park, and aerial-access notes come from incident reporting where available. Nearby cities, resorts, and airports are approximate straight-line distances for orientation only. Official civil-protection links are provided per country.

Causes

Cause statistics use multi-year investigation patterns from national databases and scientific literature. Many individual fires remain ‘unknown’. Human causes split into negligence, arson (deliberate), agriculture, infrastructure, and other.

Historic series

EU aggregates track JRC/EFFIS published order of magnitude and known extreme years. Per-country annual series are calibrated estimates for trend exploration (2006–2025). Download official EFFIS European Fire Database extracts for citation-grade work.

Size classification reference

ClassBurned area
Spot< 1 ha
Small1 – 100 ha
Medium100 – 500 ha
Large500 – 2,000 ha
Very large2,000 – 10,000 ha
Megafire> 10,000 ha