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Aurukun fire, August 2026 Aurukun

Dying down · last detection 23 Oct 2026, 04:46 UTC

The fire started on 6 August 2026 in Aurukun, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 79 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 68,368 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

It is the 65th largest in Queensland since 2016 (of 1737 with a page). Number 19 in Australia in 2026, of 859.

Is it still active?

No detections since 23 Oct 2026, 04:46 UTC. That usually means no flame is visible from space any more, although hotspots may remain. Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.

Burnt area
68,368ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
79days
6 Aug 2026 – 23 Oct 2026
Municipalities hit
1
local government areas
Started on
6 Aug
2026
Heat detections
1,440
in a single hotspot: 147 MW
Danger at start
27
High · FWI index
Energy released
11.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

23 Oct 2026
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 6 Aug23 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

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Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

35°high
56km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 21 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

52% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 11,079 ha in 2016, 15,967 ha in 2017, 12,819 ha in 2018, 2,778 ha in 2019, 10,746 ha in 2020, 1,263 ha in 2021, 22,530 ha in 2022, 22,496 ha in 2023, 340 ha in 2024, 18,400 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 35,373 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Aurukun where it started
    36,118 ha reached on 6 Aug
    4.8 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
30 Jul 31.3 °C 35 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
31 Jul 31.2 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
1 Aug 31.3 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
2 Aug 30.2 °C 46 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
3 Aug 30.4 °C 37 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
4 Aug 29.9 °C 39 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
5 Aug 30.8 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
6 Aug 30.6 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
7 Aug 31.3 °C 34 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
8 Aug 31.9 °C 37 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
9 Aug 31.9 °C 40 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
10 Aug 32.6 °C 36 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
11 Aug 34.5 °C 30 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
12 Aug 33.2 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
13 Aug 33.2 °C 35 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
14 Aug 32.8 °C 35 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
15 Aug 31.7 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
16 Aug 32.1 °C 29 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
17 Aug 30.8 °C 35 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
18 Aug 32.3 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
19 Aug 31.9 °C 30 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
20 Aug 33.3 °C 26 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
21 Aug 32.7 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
22 Aug 32.1 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
23 Aug 32.8 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
24 Aug 33.7 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Aug 33.7 °C 31 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Aug 33.7 °C 34 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
27 Aug 34.5 °C 28 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
28 Aug 34.5 °C 32 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Aug 34.3 °C 21 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
30 Aug 32.2 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
31 Aug 32.1 °C 31 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Sept 32.6 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
2 Sept 33.7 °C 27 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
3 Sept 33.9 °C 31 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Sept 33.7 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
5 Sept 33.8 °C 30 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
6 Sept 33.5 °C 30 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
7 Sept 34.2 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
8 Sept 34.0 °C 36 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
9 Sept 33.8 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
10 Sept 33.0 °C 35 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
11 Sept 32.7 °C 32 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
12 Sept 32.5 °C 33 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
13 Sept 33.6 °C 31 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
14 Sept 34.1 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
15 Sept 34.0 °C 27 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
16 Sept 34.2 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
17 Sept 34.8 °C 18 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
18 Sept 32.5 °C 29 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
19 Sept 32.5 °C 31 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
20 Sept 33.6 °C 30 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
21 Sept 33.0 °C 31 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
22 Sept 33.8 °C 29 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
23 Sept 33.5 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
24 Sept 33.8 °C 30 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
25 Sept 33.2 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
26 Sept 33.4 °C 33 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
27 Sept 33.7 °C 31 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
28 Sept 33.8 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
29 Sept 32.8 °C 39 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
30 Sept 33.6 °C 35 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
1 Oct 35.0 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
2 Oct 34.5 °C 26 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
3 Oct 33.8 °C 31 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
4 Oct 34.6 °C 31 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
5 Oct 35.5 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 30 Jul 2026
After · 23 Oct 2026

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 21 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 44 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 17: 1.1 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak44 µg/m³
Days over the guideline1 day
PM1050 µg/m³
Optical depth0.76
456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930311234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829301234
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 1,440Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Australia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Aurukun fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 6 August 2026 and 23 October 2026: 79 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 68,368 hectares (683.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Aurukun (36,118 ha, 4.8 %).
Is the Aurukun fire still active?
No fire detections since 23 Oct 2026, 04:46 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.0 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 56 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Australia (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Emergency number: 000

Satellite cross-check

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

Report an error
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 000.

Where this data comes from

The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.