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AU · Australia · –

Banana fire, 8 February 2019 Central Highlands (Qld), Banana

Out · last detection 15 Mar 2019, 02:55 UTC

The fire started on 8 February 2019 in Banana, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 36 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 35,106 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 12th largest in Queensland since 2016 (of 227 with a page). Number 50 in Australia in 2019, of 288.

Burnt area
35,106ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
36days
8 Feb 2019 – 15 Mar 2019
Municipalities hit
2
local government areas
Started on
8 Feb
2019
Heat detections
2,558
in a single hotspot: 227 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Average daily power
607MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Feb15 Mar
15 Mar 2019

How it evolved, day by day

8 Feb 2019 · 1,226 MW · 136 9 Feb 2019 · 250 MW · 20 10 Feb 2019 · 621 MW · 84 11 Feb 2019 · 144 MW · 13 12 Feb 2019 · 877 MW · 77 13 Feb 2019 · 1,188 MW · 142 14 Feb 2019 · 683 MW · 113 15 Feb 2019 · 167 MW · 29 16 Feb 2019 · 228 MW · 88 17 Feb 2019 · 805 MW · 164 18 Feb 2019 · 818 MW · 147 19 Feb 2019 · 798 MW · 122 20 Feb 2019 · 68 MW · 14 21 Feb 2019 · 93 MW · 34 22 Feb 2019 · 35 MW · 12 23 Feb 2019 · 119 MW · 34 24 Feb 2019 · 167 MW · 42 25 Feb 2019 · 572 MW · 47 26 Feb 2019 · 276 MW · 56 27 Feb 2019 · 637 MW · 131 28 Feb 2019 · 224 MW · 46 1 Mar 2019 · 1,045 MW · 183 2 Mar 2019 · 334 MW · 71 3 Mar 2019 · 96 MW · 22 4 Mar 2019 · 14 MW · 11 5 Mar 2019 · 15 MW · 13 7 Mar 2019 · 459 MW · 48 8 Mar 2019 · 20 MW · 2 9 Mar 2019 · 7 MW · 4 10 Mar 2019 · 652 MW · 89 11 Mar 2019 · 5,791 MW · 408 12 Mar 2019 · 2,322 MW · 97 13 Mar 2019 · 378 MW · 48 14 Mar 2019 · 93 MW · 10 15 Mar 2019 · 7 MW · 1
8 Feb 15 Feb 22 Feb 1 Mar 11 Mar

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

The weather it burned in

39°high
60km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone 21 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 54.2 mm on 16 Mar.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 22% of the area of London (351 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. 20,904 ha reached on 13 Feb
    0.4 %
  2. Banana where it started
    14,480 ha reached on 8 Feb
    0.5 %

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

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
1 Feb 31.5 °C 28 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
2 Feb 28.3 °C 37 % 55 km/h 0.6 mm High 26
3 Feb 27.7 °C 39 % 55 km/h 0.2 mm High 27
4 Feb 29.8 °C 32 % 53 km/h 0.4 mm High 28
5 Feb 28.4 °C 40 % 55 km/h 0.6 mm High 24
6 Feb 30.3 °C 37 % 60 km/h 1.0 mm High 24
7 Feb 28.3 °C 41 % 55 km/h 0.4 mm High 24
8 Feb 32.6 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.2 mm High 32
9 Feb 33.8 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
10 Feb 37.7 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
11 Feb 34.6 °C 31 % 43 km/h 2.1 mm Moderate 21
12 Feb 35.7 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Feb 39.2 °C 9 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
14 Feb 36.0 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
15 Feb 32.0 °C 32 % 46 km/h 1.9 mm Moderate 21
16 Feb 32.4 °C 19 % 42 km/h 0.1 mm High 33
17 Feb 33.8 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
18 Feb 34.4 °C 20 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
19 Feb 37.4 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
20 Feb 38.5 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
21 Feb 36.9 °C 16 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
22 Feb 32.9 °C 19 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
23 Feb 33.9 °C 17 % 46 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 47
24 Feb 31.3 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Feb 30.4 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
26 Feb 30.5 °C 23 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
27 Feb 31.1 °C 20 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
28 Feb 30.1 °C 22 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Mar 30.1 °C 23 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
2 Mar 29.3 °C 28 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
3 Mar 29.3 °C 30 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
4 Mar 29.4 °C 30 % 52 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 40
5 Mar 30.6 °C 31 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
6 Mar 31.0 °C 37 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
7 Mar 32.5 °C 31 % 51 km/h 0.1 mm High 36
8 Mar 30.7 °C 43 % 46 km/h 3.8 mm Low 10
9 Mar 30.5 °C 41 % 38 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 20
10 Mar 34.2 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
11 Mar 34.4 °C 28 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
12 Mar 34.5 °C 32 % 51 km/h 2.7 mm Moderate 17
13 Mar 35.3 °C 23 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
14 Mar 33.8 °C 36 % 40 km/h 1.5 mm Moderate 21
15 Mar 29.6 °C 46 % 36 km/h 17.3 mm Very low 3
16 Mar after 25.7 °C 68 % 44 km/h 54.2 mm Very low 0

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 32.9, a minimum humidity of 22% and 21 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 23.

FWI at the start 32.9
Minimum humidity 22 %
Days without rain 21
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Maranoa fire, September 2024
52,730 ha 28 days FWI 31.4 Min. humidity 22 % 173 km away, in 2024

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 4.9 mm on 2 Oct.

What happened to them

16 days
median duration
10,349 ha
median area
52 %
went past 10,000 ha
4.9 mm
rain at the end (median; 15 of 23 had it)

It was 3.4 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 36 days, against 16 days.

Only 4 of its 23 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 8 of 23, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 4.9 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

54.2 mmfirst rain
16 Marthe day after it ended
60km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 15 Mar, and on 16 Mar 54.2 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 15 of 23, with a median of 4.9 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 1 Feb 2019
After · 22 Mar 2019

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

Detections table · 2,558Every 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 Banana fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 8 February 2019 and 15 March 2019: 36 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 35,106 hectares (351.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Central Highlands (Qld) (20,904 ha, 0.4 %); Banana (14,480 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.2 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 60 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 51, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 23. Their median duration was 16 days and their median area 10,349 ha; 52 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 4 of its 23 twins burned more. The weather on the first day does not explain everything: the wind in the following days, the fuel and the firefighting also count. In 8 of 23, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 4.9 mm.

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 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 2,558 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.