Fire Behavior and Propagation of Twin Wildfires in a Mediterranean Landscape: A Case Study from İzmir, Türkiye
Abstract
Twin wildfires burned over 9500 ha in Seferihisar, İzmir, western Türkiye, on 29—30 June 2025 under extreme fire weather conditions. This study reconstructs the spatiotemporal progression of the fires and examines the drivers of contrasting behaviors and burn severity. Multi-source datasets—Sentinel-2 imagery, VIIRS/MODIS thermal detections, MTG images and thermal detections, aerial photos, and ground data—were integrated to delineate progression polygons and compute rate of spread (ROS), fuel consumption (FC), and fire-line intensity (FI). Kuyucak fire showed rapid early growth, burning 3554 ha in 2.5 h (mean ROS of 5.0 km h−1; mean FI of 37,789 kW m−1), driven by strong northeasterly winds of 40–50 km h−1, steep terrain, dense Pinus brutia fuels, and very low dead fine-fuel moisture (
Fields of Study & Subjects
Fire effects on ecosystems
Landslides and related hazards
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Fire
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 86–86
- Publication date
- 14 February 2026
- Language
- EN