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Cook fire, 7 September 2023 Cook

Out · last detection 21 Nov 2023, 04:40 UTC

The fire started on 7 September 2023 in Cook, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 76 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 49,258 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 107th largest in Queensland since 2016 (of 1737 with a page). Number 96 in Australia in 2023, of 1235.

Burnt area
49,258ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
76days
7 Sept 2023 – 21 Nov 2023
Municipalities hit
1
local government areas
Started on
7 Sept
2023
Heat detections
2,085
in a single hotspot: 184 MW
Danger at start
44
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
13.7GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

21 Nov 2023
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 7 Sept21 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

7910111213141516171819202122232425262728293012345678910111415161718192021222324252627282930311356789101112131415161718192021

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
69km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 39 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.8 mm on 28 Nov.

This area had burned before

91% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 9,408 ha in 2016, 15,029 ha in 2017, 3,546 ha in 2018, 34,271 ha in 2019, 1,101 ha in 2020, 29,050 ha in 2021, 5,075 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 44,799 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Cook where it started
    49,186 ha reached on 2 Sept
    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)
1 Sept 32.8 °C 24 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
2 Sept 31.7 °C 32 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
3 Sept 32.4 °C 29 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
4 Sept 32.6 °C 34 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
5 Sept 33.3 °C 32 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
6 Sept 32.4 °C 44 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
7 Sept 32.9 °C 49 % 56 km/h 0.9 mm High 33
8 Sept 33.7 °C 46 % 55 km/h 0.3 mm High 36
9 Sept 34.0 °C 39 % 65 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
10 Sept 31.9 °C 41 % 69 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
11 Sept 32.4 °C 37 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
12 Sept 31.0 °C 40 % 64 km/h 0.5 mm Very high 48
13 Sept 31.8 °C 38 % 59 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 45
14 Sept 31.0 °C 39 % 66 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
15 Sept 32.3 °C 26 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
16 Sept 30.4 °C 38 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
17 Sept 31.6 °C 35 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
18 Sept 32.3 °C 28 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
19 Sept 33.1 °C 35 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
20 Sept 32.2 °C 46 % 46 km/h 2.3 mm Moderate 20
21 Sept 34.5 °C 34 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
22 Sept 34.9 °C 26 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
23 Sept 33.1 °C 33 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
24 Sept 32.3 °C 41 % 56 km/h 1.5 mm High 33
25 Sept 33.3 °C 32 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Sept 33.4 °C 34 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
27 Sept 33.4 °C 35 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
28 Sept 32.5 °C 41 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
29 Sept 31.7 °C 45 % 66 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 49
30 Sept 30.9 °C 43 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Oct 30.8 °C 46 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
2 Oct 33.4 °C 39 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
3 Oct 33.1 °C 38 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
4 Oct 34.1 °C 39 % 39 km/h 0.6 mm High 34
5 Oct 35.6 °C 30 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
6 Oct 32.7 °C 45 % 47 km/h 1.5 mm High 27
7 Oct 34.0 °C 34 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
8 Oct 33.0 °C 31 % 61 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
9 Oct 33.2 °C 35 % 51 km/h 1.9 mm High 30
10 Oct 34.0 °C 35 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
11 Oct 33.5 °C 34 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
12 Oct 31.7 °C 52 % 58 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 40
13 Oct 33.7 °C 44 % 52 km/h 0.6 mm High 37
14 Oct 36.1 °C 23 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
15 Oct 35.0 °C 27 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
16 Oct 34.0 °C 29 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
17 Oct 33.1 °C 37 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
18 Oct 33.7 °C 39 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
19 Oct 33.7 °C 41 % 50 km/h 2.0 mm High 26
20 Oct 34.9 °C 29 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
21 Oct 34.8 °C 32 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
22 Oct 33.8 °C 37 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
23 Oct 34.6 °C 28 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
24 Oct 34.0 °C 27 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
25 Oct 35.2 °C 31 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
26 Oct 35.6 °C 33 % 44 km/h 1.0 mm High 35
27 Oct 34.6 °C 36 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Oct 35.4 °C 39 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
29 Oct 36.4 °C 29 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
30 Oct 33.3 °C 40 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
31 Oct 35.2 °C 32 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Nov 34.7 °C 33 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
2 Nov 32.6 °C 42 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
3 Nov 35.5 °C 34 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
4 Nov 34.5 °C 35 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
5 Nov 36.3 °C 31 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Nov 34.5 °C 37 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
7 Nov 36.1 °C 33 % 47 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 43
8 Nov 35.8 °C 32 % 42 km/h 0.5 mm Very high 44
9 Nov 34.8 °C 34 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
10 Nov 35.0 °C 34 % 42 km/h 2.3 mm High 27
11 Nov 35.1 °C 34 % 37 km/h 0.5 mm High 37
12 Nov 35.1 °C 31 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
13 Nov 33.8 °C 34 % 37 km/h 1.9 mm High 25
14 Nov 32.9 °C 42 % 34 km/h 3.9 mm Low 10
15 Nov 33.0 °C 43 % 33 km/h 5.6 mm Low 6
16 Nov 34.0 °C 40 % 28 km/h 0.9 mm Moderate 17
17 Nov 34.0 °C 30 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
18 Nov 34.8 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
19 Nov 35.2 °C 33 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
20 Nov 34.8 °C 42 % 48 km/h 2.6 mm Moderate 19
21 Nov 36.5 °C 39 % 49 km/h 1.1 mm High 27
22 Nov after 35.6 °C 41 % 51 km/h 0.2 mm High 30
23 Nov after 36.1 °C 40 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
24 Nov after 36.6 °C 34 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
25 Nov after 35.9 °C 35 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
26 Nov after 35.5 °C 38 % 39 km/h 0.5 mm High 31
27 Nov after 34.8 °C 40 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
28 Nov after 34.9 °C 40 % 39 km/h 1.8 mm Moderate 19

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 31 Aug 2023
After · 28 Nov 2023

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 6 October 2023 the air beside the fire reached 41 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak41 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1059 µg/m³
Optical depth0.59
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Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 2,085Every 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 7 September 2023 and 21 November 2023: 76 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 49,258 hectares (492.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Cook (49,186 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.5 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 69 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 51, class 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.