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Cook fire, 30 August 2019 Cook

Out · last detection 8 Nov 2019, 03:35 UTC

The fire started on 30 August 2019 in Cook, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 71 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 95,928 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 41th largest in Queensland since 2016 (of 1737 with a page). Number 27 in Australia in 2019, of 802.

Burnt area
95,928ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
71days
30 Aug 2019 – 8 Nov 2019
Municipalities hit
1
local government areas
Started on
30 Aug
2019
Heat detections
4,252
in a single hotspot: 179 MW
Danger at start
41
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
29.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

8 Nov 2019
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 30 Aug8 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

3031123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930123456789101112131415161718192021222324262728293112345678

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
68km/h · peak gust
6%lowest humidity

It had gone 49 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.8 mm on 25 Nov.

This area had burned before

29% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 10,844 ha in 2016, 10,427 ha in 2017, 8,144 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 27,896 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Cook where it started
    97,463 ha reached on 28 Aug
    0.9 %

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)
28 Aug 30.1 °C 20 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
29 Aug 29.9 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
30 Aug 30.0 °C 24 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
31 Aug 30.5 °C 21 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
1 Sept 30.6 °C 20 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
2 Sept 28.0 °C 29 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
3 Sept 26.9 °C 32 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
4 Sept 28.8 °C 13 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
5 Sept 29.0 °C 13 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
6 Sept 29.5 °C 19 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
7 Sept 31.3 °C 12 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
8 Sept 31.4 °C 8 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
9 Sept 29.7 °C 6 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
10 Sept 29.6 °C 10 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
11 Sept 26.9 °C 24 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
12 Sept 27.0 °C 30 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
13 Sept 27.7 °C 23 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
14 Sept 26.5 °C 25 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
15 Sept 27.2 °C 26 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
16 Sept 27.8 °C 30 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
17 Sept 31.9 °C 12 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
18 Sept 32.7 °C 7 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
19 Sept 30.0 °C 20 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
20 Sept 30.1 °C 23 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
21 Sept 29.3 °C 35 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
22 Sept 31.2 °C 29 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
23 Sept 29.9 °C 32 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
24 Sept 27.9 °C 37 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
25 Sept 29.1 °C 35 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
26 Sept 29.5 °C 34 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
27 Sept 29.5 °C 34 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 Sept 33.6 °C 20 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
29 Sept 33.4 °C 16 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
30 Sept 34.6 °C 13 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
1 Oct 32.8 °C 22 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
2 Oct 29.9 °C 29 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
3 Oct 31.5 °C 22 % 61 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
4 Oct 28.8 °C 33 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
5 Oct 28.2 °C 30 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
6 Oct 30.2 °C 33 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
7 Oct 30.7 °C 26 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
8 Oct 32.6 °C 19 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
9 Oct 36.7 °C 10 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
10 Oct 34.2 °C 20 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
11 Oct 33.5 °C 20 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
12 Oct 33.9 °C 15 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
13 Oct 33.1 °C 25 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
14 Oct 32.9 °C 21 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
15 Oct 34.7 °C 19 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
16 Oct 35.7 °C 14 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
17 Oct 34.1 °C 24 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
18 Oct 36.0 °C 23 % 48 km/h 0.1 mm Extreme 54
19 Oct 37.1 °C 16 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
20 Oct 36.5 °C 6 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
21 Oct 31.3 °C 32 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
22 Oct 29.3 °C 35 % 68 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
23 Oct 30.2 °C 33 % 60 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
24 Oct 30.3 °C 32 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Oct 29.7 °C 40 % 45 km/h 0.9 mm High 31
26 Oct 30.0 °C 36 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
27 Oct 34.2 °C 22 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
28 Oct 33.0 °C 27 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
29 Oct 30.4 °C 33 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
30 Oct 29.6 °C 39 % 49 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 40
31 Oct 31.0 °C 37 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
1 Nov 31.9 °C 33 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
2 Nov 31.8 °C 32 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
3 Nov 33.5 °C 25 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Nov 32.5 °C 27 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
5 Nov 33.6 °C 27 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
6 Nov 34.0 °C 22 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
7 Nov 33.7 °C 21 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
8 Nov 36.4 °C 17 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
9 Nov after 36.7 °C 16 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
10 Nov after 36.7 °C 12 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
11 Nov after 33.5 °C 24 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
12 Nov after 35.2 °C 20 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
13 Nov after 35.8 °C 15 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
14 Nov after 37.3 °C 14 % 53 km/h 0.2 mm Extreme 59
15 Nov after 34.1 °C 25 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
16 Nov after 35.4 °C 22 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
17 Nov after 35.7 °C 21 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
18 Nov after 36.2 °C 19 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
19 Nov after 34.7 °C 21 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
20 Nov after 34.6 °C 24 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
21 Nov after 35.4 °C 20 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
22 Nov after 35.2 °C 16 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
23 Nov after 34.9 °C 18 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
24 Nov after 34.5 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.3 mm Extreme 50
25 Nov after 31.6 °C 34 % 37 km/h 1.8 mm High 24

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 23 Aug 2019
After · 15 Nov 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.

Detections table · 4,252Every 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 Cook fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 30 August 2019 and 8 November 2019: 71 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 95,928 hectares (959.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Cook (97,463 ha, 0.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.3 °C, humidity dropped to 6 % and gusts hit 68 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 71, 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
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.

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.