Aude Corbières Fire 2025 — Burn Severity Map & Satellite Analysis
Tue Aug 05 2025 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
About this fire
The Aude Corbières megafire was France’s worst Mediterranean wildfire in over 50 years. Ignited on 5 August 2025 near the commune of Ribaute in the Corbières massif, it raged for 25 days across the garrigue and pine forests of the Aude department in Occitanie. By the time it was officially declared extinguished on 28 August 2025, the fire had destroyed 11,133 hectares of vegetation across an envelope of 17,000 hectares, affecting 16 communes.
The fire claimed one life — a 65-year-old woman in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse — and injured 9 people. Thirty-six homes were destroyed. Up to 2,000 firefighters were mobilized at the peak of the blaze, supported by Canadair water-bombing aircraft and European reinforcements. The Corbières is a wine-growing region, and the fire directly threatened Languedoc AOP vineyards. While firefighters managed to save many estates, the fire scorched vineyard edges and raised smoke-taint concerns for grapes harvested weeks later.
The Aude prosecutor’s office opened a criminal investigation, with the fire’s origin suspected to be arson. The disaster underscored the vulnerability of France’s Mediterranean massifs as climate change drives longer droughts and more extreme fire weather into regions previously considered temperate.
Timeline & severity
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 5 Aug 2025 | Fire ignites near Ribaute during extreme heat and drought |
| 5–10 Aug 2025 | Rapid spread through garrigue, pine forest, and vineyards; 16 communes affected |
| 10 Aug 2025 | Fire declared “maîtrisé” but remains under surveillance |
| 28 Aug 2025 | Officially extinguished after 25 days, aided by late-August rains |
| Post-fire | 11,133 ha destroyed; 1 death; 36 homes destroyed; criminal investigation opened |
The fire’s longevity — nearly four weeks from ignition to full extinction — was driven by persistent hot, dry conditions and the rugged terrain of the Corbières, which hampered ground access. Residual hotspots smoldered for weeks after containment, requiring continuous aerial monitoring.
Satellite analysis
Sentinel-2 satellite imagery reveals the fire’s impact and the region’s recovery trajectory. The dNBR (differenced Normalized Burn Ratio) compares pre-fire and post-fire NBR values to quantify burn severity.
Burn severity (dNBR)
| Metric | Value | Image date |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-fire NBR | 0.196 | 28 Jun 2025 |
| Post-fire NBR | 0.164 | 3 Sep 2025 |
| dNBR | 0.032 | — |
| USGS severity class | Unburned (area average) | — |
The area-average dNBR of 0.032 falls below the USGS “unburned” threshold (0.1). This does not mean the fire caused no damage — rather, it reflects the naturally low biomass of Corbières garrigue (pre-fire NBR ~0.20, vs. 0.5+ for dense forest) and the fact that the bounding box includes unburned patches between fire fronts. Pixel-level dNBR would show moderate-to-high severity in the burned cores.
Vegetation timeline
| Period | NDVI | NBR | NDMI | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2024 | 0.325 | 0.191 | 0.075 | Winter baseline |
| Jul 2024 | 0.310 | 0.164 | 0.024 | Summer drought — NDMI near zero |
| Jan 2025 | 0.257 | 0.143 | 0.058 | Pre-fire winter low |
| Jul 2025 | 0.346 | 0.227 | 0.071 | 8 days before fire — peak biomass |
| 5 Aug 2025 | — | — | — | Fire ignites |
| Sep 2025 | — | 0.164 | — | Post-fire image — NBR dropped 28% |
| Jan 2026 | 0.342 | 0.210 | 0.094 | 5 months post-fire — NBR at 93% of pre-fire |
| Jul 2026 | 0.339 | 0.213 | 0.056 | 11 months post-fire — near full recovery |
Key findings
The NBR trajectory tells a clear story: pre-fire NBR peaked at 0.227 in July 2025 (healthy garrigue at summer peak), then dropped to 0.164 after the fire — a 28% decline in vegetation cover. By January 2026, NBR had recovered to 0.210 (93% of pre-fire), and by July 2026 it reached 0.213 — 94% of pre-fire levels. This rapid recovery is characteristic of fire-adapted garrigue vegetation, which resprouts from root crowns within months.
However, the current NDMI of 0.056 sits in the “transitional, increasing fire risk” zone (−0.1 to 0.1). Combined with 37% of pixels showing stressed NDVI values (<0.3), the Corbières faces elevated fire risk for the 2026 season — the vegetation has regrown, but it is dry.
Read our full guide: What is NBR? →
Recovery outlook
Post-fire recovery in the Corbières will be uneven. Garrigue vegetation, adapted to fire, may resprout within months. Pine forests will take decades to regenerate, and the loss of mature trees increases erosion risk on the steep Corbières slopes before winter rains. For vineyard owners, the priority is assessing vine damage and smoke taint — satellite monitoring of NDVI and NBR over the coming seasons will help distinguish vines that recover from those needing replanting. The criminal investigation and the broader policy debate about fire prevention in France’s Mediterranean massifs will shape land management in the Corbières for years to come.
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