November 2, 2019 - Fires and Smoke across the Balkan Peninsula

Multiple fires were burning across the Balkan Peninsula when NASA’s Terra satellite passed overhead in late October 2019. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board that satellite acquired a true-color image revealing a smoky scene on October 28.

Each red “hot spot” marks an area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected temperatures higher than background. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic of actively burning fire.

According to the European Commission’s Copernicus Emergency Management System, many dozens of fires were burning across the region from October 25 to November 1. While small fires were dotted across several countries, the largest clusters appeared in the forests of Northern Macedonia, western Bulgaria, and Serbia. Fire has become an increasing natural hazard across Europe, as well as many other parts of the Earth, in recent years. Parts of Europe sweltered under blazing, record-setting heatwaves in the summer of 2019. While much of the Balkan Peninsula was spared from the worst, unusually high summer temperatures left vegetation dry and subject to quick ignition and rapid fire spread.

The largest fire visible in this image burns on the Stara Planina Mountain, near the border of Serbia (west) and Bulgaria (east). According to an article published on October 31 on the Belgrade Initiative for Digital Diplomacy’s Digital Portal, this fire, which had been burning for about five days, has consumed about 500 hectares (1,236 acres) of low vegetation and trees. Two buildings were destroyed near Trgoviste. Additional fires fronts were noted in the part of Vidojevica Mountain near Prokuple and near Vranje. The terrain is steep and difficult to access, which, along with strong winds, makes firefighting difficult. Copernicus reported that 200 firefighters were engaged at five different locations on this fire, along with 50 members of Serbian Gendarmerie and employees of the public forest management company, as well as local residents. Reports state that Bulgaria’s army is also fighting the fire and that Serbia has requested, and will receive, additional help from Russia.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 10/28/2019
Resolutions: 1km (560.7 KB), 500m (1.5 MB), 250m (1.2 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC