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Banyu Asin fire, August 2019 Banyu Asin, Muaro Jambi, Tanjung Jabung Timur

Out · last measured on 24 Sept 2019

The fire started on 30 August 2019 in Banyu Asin, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 26 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 22,605 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 7th largest in South Sumatra since 2016 (of 170 with a page). Number 7 in Indonesia in 2019, of 418.

We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
22,605ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
26days
30 Aug 2019 – 24 Sept 2019
Municipalities hit
3
regencies
Started on
30 Aug
2019
Danger at start
12
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

35°high
41km/h · peak gust
37%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 12.5 mm on 25 Sept.

This area had burned before

7% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,539 ha in 2018.

What happened to each town

  1. Banyu Asin where it started
    15,395 ha
    1.4 %
  2. Muaro Jambi
    4,709 ha
    0.9 %
  3. Tanjung Jabung Timur
    2,646 ha
    0.5 %

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 Aug 33.3 °C 42 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
31 Aug 32.9 °C 46 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
1 Sept 34.5 °C 45 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
2 Sept 34.1 °C 49 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
3 Sept 33.7 °C 48 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
4 Sept 34.2 °C 41 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
5 Sept 34.1 °C 38 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
6 Sept 33.5 °C 50 % 33 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 19
7 Sept 33.9 °C 43 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
8 Sept 34.3 °C 41 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
9 Sept 34.4 °C 43 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
10 Sept 35.1 °C 40 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
11 Sept 33.9 °C 40 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
12 Sept 34.3 °C 40 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
13 Sept 33.9 °C 44 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
14 Sept 34.6 °C 38 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
15 Sept 32.9 °C 42 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
16 Sept 33.2 °C 45 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
17 Sept 34.7 °C 42 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
18 Sept 34.7 °C 39 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
19 Sept 33.3 °C 51 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm High 24
20 Sept 34.1 °C 38 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
21 Sept 34.4 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
22 Sept 32.9 °C 43 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
23 Sept 33.5 °C 57 % 41 km/h 4.4 mm Low 6
24 Sept 31.4 °C 64 % 30 km/h 16.4 mm Very low 1
25 Sept after 31.7 °C 62 % 35 km/h 12.5 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 23 Aug 2019
After · 1 Oct 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.

Other fires nearby

All fires in Indonesia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Banyu Asin fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 30 August 2019 and 24 September 2019: 26 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 22,605 hectares (226.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Banyu Asin (15,395 ha, 1.4 %); Muaro Jambi (4,709 ha, 0.9 %); Tanjung Jabung Timur (2,646 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.1 °C, humidity dropped to 37 % and gusts hit 41 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Indonesia (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: 112

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.

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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 112.

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 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). 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.