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Barkly fire, 1 August 2017 Barkly

Out · last detection 10 Sept 2017, 16:20 UTC

The fire started on 1 August 2017 in Barkly, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 41 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 137,756 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 28th largest in Northern Territory since 2016 (of 3496 with a page). Number 6 in Australia in 2017, of 862.

Burnt area
137,756ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
41days
1 Aug 2017 – 10 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
1
local government areas
Started on
1 Aug
2017
Heat detections
5,732
in a single hotspot: 369 MW
Danger at start
44
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
67.3GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

10 Sept 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 1 Aug10 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303112345678910

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

The weather it burned in

34°high
55km/h · peak gust
6%lowest humidity

It had gone 22 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Barkly where it started
    139,059 ha reached on 1 Aug
    0.4 %

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)
1 Aug 28.9 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
2 Aug 30.8 °C 19 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
3 Aug 24.1 °C 17 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
4 Aug 24.3 °C 17 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
5 Aug 25.8 °C 16 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Aug 27.3 °C 14 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
7 Aug 27.7 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
8 Aug 25.6 °C 15 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
9 Aug 27.8 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
10 Aug 30.3 °C 16 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
11 Aug 30.7 °C 21 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
12 Aug 30.5 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
13 Aug 31.4 °C 15 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
14 Aug 32.1 °C 12 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
15 Aug 31.8 °C 14 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
16 Aug 32.8 °C 12 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
17 Aug 33.7 °C 14 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
18 Aug 32.1 °C 16 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
19 Aug 30.2 °C 13 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 74
20 Aug 29.5 °C 8 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
21 Aug 32.6 °C 6 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
22 Aug 30.4 °C 15 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
23 Aug 31.5 °C 16 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
24 Aug 28.2 °C 16 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 70
25 Aug 25.2 °C 14 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
26 Aug 27.1 °C 7 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
27 Aug 25.6 °C 12 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76
28 Aug 25.7 °C 11 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
29 Aug 25.5 °C 10 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
30 Aug 25.4 °C 11 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
31 Aug 27.8 °C 9 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
1 Sept 29.8 °C 9 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
2 Sept 32.6 °C 9 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
3 Sept 33.6 °C 10 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 70
4 Sept 28.7 °C 13 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
5 Sept 28.3 °C 14 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
6 Sept 28.6 °C 12 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
7 Sept 27.9 °C 9 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
8 Sept 27.8 °C 11 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76
9 Sept 28.8 °C 8 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76
10 Sept 30.5 °C 8 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
11 Sept after 33.1 °C 10 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
12 Sept after 34.1 °C 12 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
13 Sept after 36.2 °C 7 % 70 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 112
14 Sept after 26.9 °C 9 % 71 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 107
15 Sept after 29.2 °C 5 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 78
16 Sept after 30.4 °C 6 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 72
17 Sept after 31.0 °C 6 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
18 Sept after 33.0 °C 6 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
19 Sept after 34.0 °C 5 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 78
20 Sept after 34.1 °C 9 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 25 Jul 2017
After · 17 Sept 2017

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 · 5,732Every 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 Barkly fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 1 August 2017 and 10 September 2017: 41 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 137,756 hectares (1,377.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Barkly (139,059 ha, 0.4 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 33.7 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 76, class Very 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
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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 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.