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Boyolali fire, September 2019 Boyolali, Magelang, Semarang

Out · last measured on 14 Sept 2019

The fire started on 11 September 2019 in Boyolali, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,505 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

Number 417 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
1,505ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
4days
11 Sept 2019 – 14 Sept 2019
Municipalities hit
3
regencies
Started on
11 Sept
2019
Danger at start
15
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

14°high
44km/h · peak gust
38%lowest humidity

It had gone 19 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.5 mm on 15 Sept.

This area had burned before

7% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 101 ha in 2018.

What happened to each town

  1. Boyolali where it started
    781 ha
    0.7 %
  2. Magelang
    556 ha
    0.5 %
  3. Semarang
    179 ha
    0.2 %

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)
11 Sept 13.5 °C 40 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 15
12 Sept 10.7 °C 41 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
13 Sept 11.3 °C 38 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
14 Sept 11.1 °C 49 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
15 Sept after 11.5 °C 51 % 26 km/h 1.5 mm Very low 4

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 4 Sept 2019
After · 21 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 Boyolali fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 11 September 2019 and 14 September 2019: 4 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 1,505 hectares (15.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Boyolali (781 ha, 0.7 %); Magelang (556 ha, 0.5 %); Semarang (179 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 13.5 °C, humidity dropped to 38 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 16, class Moderate.
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.