Skip to content
worldfires
ID · Indonesia · →

Batang Hari fire, 14 August 2019 Batang Hari, Musi Banyuasin

Out · last measured on 26 Aug 2019

The fire started on 14 August 2019 in Batang Hari, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,692 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 12th largest in Jambi since 2016 (of 27 with a page). Number 125 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
3,692ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
13days
14 Aug 2019 – 26 Aug 2019
Municipalities hit
2
regencies
Started on
14 Aug
2019
Danger at start
26
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

36°high
36km/h · peak gust
32%lowest humidity

It had gone 22 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 11.1 mm on 27 Aug.

This area had burned before

1% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 42 ha in 2018.

What happened to each town

  1. Batang Hari where it started
    3,714 ha
    0.7 %
  2. Musi Banyuasin
    4 ha
    0.0 %

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)
14 Aug 34.9 °C 41 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
15 Aug 36.4 °C 34 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
16 Aug 35.7 °C 38 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm High 27
17 Aug 34.6 °C 45 % 30 km/h 0.6 mm High 22
18 Aug 35.8 °C 32 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
19 Aug 35.1 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
20 Aug 35.7 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
21 Aug 34.7 °C 41 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
22 Aug 36.3 °C 34 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
23 Aug 35.5 °C 37 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
24 Aug 35.7 °C 35 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
25 Aug 34.4 °C 39 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
26 Aug 35.4 °C 44 % 26 km/h 4.2 mm Low 8
27 Aug after 32.7 °C 52 % 27 km/h 11.1 mm Very low 3

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 7 Aug 2019
After · 2 Sept 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 Batang Hari fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 14 August 2019 and 26 August 2019: 13 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 3,692 hectares (36.9 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Batang Hari (3,714 ha, 0.7 %); Musi Banyuasin (4 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.4 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 36 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, 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.

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 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.