Skip to content
worldfires
AU · Australia · –

Banana fire, 27 September 2025 Banana

Out · last detection 26 Oct 2025, 04:20 UTC

The fire started on 27 September 2025 in Banana, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 30 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 22,370 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 27th largest in Queensland since 2016 (of 227 with a page). Number 8 in Australia in 2025, of 49.

Burnt area
22,370ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
30days
27 Sept 2025 – 26 Oct 2025
Municipalities hit
1
local government areas
Started on
27 Sept
2025
Heat detections
1,525
in a single hotspot: 290 MW
Danger at start
36
High · FWI index
Average daily power
478MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 27 Sept26 Oct
26 Oct 2025

How it evolved, day by day

27 Sept 2025 · 2 MW · 2 29 Sept 2025 · 36 MW · 8 30 Sept 2025 · 201 MW · 10 2 Oct 2025 · 5 MW · 1 3 Oct 2025 · 153 MW · 48 4 Oct 2025 · 965 MW · 96 5 Oct 2025 · 471 MW · 79 6 Oct 2025 · 423 MW · 24 7 Oct 2025 · 1,886 MW · 144 8 Oct 2025 · 577 MW · 93 9 Oct 2025 · 553 MW · 53 10 Oct 2025 · 95 MW · 17 11 Oct 2025 · 172 MW · 31 12 Oct 2025 · 452 MW · 30 13 Oct 2025 · 2 MW · 2 15 Oct 2025 · 111 MW · 41 16 Oct 2025 · 1,530 MW · 243 17 Oct 2025 · 2,269 MW · 303 18 Oct 2025 · 1,917 MW · 154 19 Oct 2025 · 605 MW · 56 20 Oct 2025 · 47 MW · 13 21 Oct 2025 · 164 MW · 23 22 Oct 2025 · 53 MW · 13 23 Oct 2025 · 25 MW · 3 24 Oct 2025 · 37 MW · 11 25 Oct 2025 · 128 MW · 23 26 Oct 2025 · 29 MW · 4
27 Sept 5 Oct 11 Oct 17 Oct 24 Oct

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
49km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone 25 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.1 mm on 27 Oct.

This area had burned before

17% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,296 ha in 2018, 129 ha in 2020, 669 ha in 2021, 102 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,842 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 14% of the area of London (224 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. Banana where it started
    22,560 ha reached on 27 Sept
    0.8 %

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 2025
Built-up area0.28 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.28 hectares of built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)
27 Sept 30.0 °C 21 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Sept 32.5 °C 17 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
29 Sept 33.5 °C 13 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
30 Sept 33.6 °C 17 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
1 Oct 33.1 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.6 mm High 35
2 Oct 35.7 °C 19 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
3 Oct 27.9 °C 13 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
4 Oct 30.4 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
5 Oct 30.7 °C 19 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
6 Oct 32.4 °C 15 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
7 Oct 33.9 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
8 Oct 33.0 °C 21 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
9 Oct 33.2 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
10 Oct 33.1 °C 32 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
11 Oct 34.4 °C 31 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
12 Oct 34.6 °C 31 % 32 km/h 1.2 mm Very high 39
13 Oct 30.6 °C 38 % 25 km/h 2.8 mm Very low 4
14 Oct 34.1 °C 28 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 19
15 Oct 32.0 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
16 Oct 31.3 °C 26 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
17 Oct 32.6 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
18 Oct 34.5 °C 25 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
19 Oct 34.9 °C 26 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
20 Oct 34.5 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
21 Oct 35.8 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
22 Oct 35.2 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
23 Oct 37.3 °C 26 % 33 km/h 0.2 mm High 36
24 Oct 37.6 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
25 Oct 36.5 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Oct 38.1 °C 27 % 49 km/h 5.4 mm Extreme 57
27 Oct after 36.8 °C 23 % 35 km/h 1.1 mm High 26

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 36.1, a minimum humidity of 21% and 25 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 29.

FWI at the start 36.1
Minimum humidity 21 %
Days without rain 25
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Banana fire, February 2019
35,106 ha 36 days FWI 38.5 Min. humidity 19 % 127 km away, in 2019

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 100.9 mm on 16 Mar.

What happened to them

18 days
median duration
14,239 ha
median area
55 %
went past 10,000 ha
4.4 mm
rain at the end (median; 22 of 29 had it)

It was 1.6 times larger than the median of its twins and lasted 30 days, against 18 days.

Only 8 of its 29 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 7 of 29, 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 4.4 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

1.1 mmfirst rain
27 Octthe day after it ended
49km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 26 Oct, and on 27 Oct 1.1 mm fell. We do not know whether the rain or the firefighters put it out. Twins with rain when they ended: 22 of 29, with a median of 4.4 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 · 20 Sept 2025
After · 2 Nov 2025

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 18 October 2025 the air beside the fire reached 84 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 29: 2.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak84 µg/m³
Days over the guideline5 days
PM1088 µg/m³
Optical depth0.57
27 Sept4 Oct11 Oct18 Oct25 Oct
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 · 1,525Every 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?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 27 September 2025 to 26 October 2025 (30 days). The perimeter dates it from 29 September 2025 to 26 October 2025.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 22,370 hectares (223.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Banana (22,560 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 38.1 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, 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: 29. Their median duration was 18 days and their median area 14,239 ha; 55 % went past 10,000 ha. Only 8 of its 29 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 7 of 29, 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 4.4 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 · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Start date: 29 September 2025 → 27 September 2025.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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 adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 29 September 2025 to 26 October 2025. 1,525 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 2025, 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.