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Cook fire, 10 September 2023 Cook

Out · last detection 11 Dec 2023, 16:12 UTC

The fire started on 10 September 2023 in Cook, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 94 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 124,452 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.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 19th largest in Queensland since 2016 (of 1737 with a page). Number 21 in Australia in 2023, of 1235.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Cook · 2020Cook · 2019Cook · 2018Cook · 2021

Burnt area
124,452ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
94days
10 Sept 2023 – 12 Dec 2023
Municipalities hit
1
local government areas
Started on
10 Sept
2023
Heat detections
6,616
in a single hotspot: 250 MW
Danger at start
24
High · FWI index
Average daily power
514MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 10 Sept12 Dec
11 Dec 2023

How it evolved, day by day

10 Sept 2023 · 321 MW · 36 11 Sept 2023 · 718 MW · 75 12 Sept 2023 · 100 MW · 8 13 Sept 2023 · 749 MW · 29 14 Sept 2023 · 357 MW · 73 15 Sept 2023 · 800 MW · 101 16 Sept 2023 · 1,898 MW · 83 17 Sept 2023 · 18 MW · 13 18 Sept 2023 · 88 MW · 11 19 Sept 2023 · 105 MW · 20 20 Sept 2023 · 3 MW · 4 21 Sept 2023 · 417 MW · 53 22 Sept 2023 · 502 MW · 105 23 Sept 2023 · 82 MW · 24 24 Sept 2023 · 288 MW · 69 25 Sept 2023 · 839 MW · 107 26 Sept 2023 · 1,282 MW · 95 27 Sept 2023 · 511 MW · 39 28 Sept 2023 · 49 MW · 14 30 Sept 2023 · 50 MW · 23 1 Oct 2023 · 258 MW · 36 2 Oct 2023 · 177 MW · 51 3 Oct 2023 · 124 MW · 54 4 Oct 2023 · 453 MW · 102 5 Oct 2023 · 1,148 MW · 162 6 Oct 2023 · 213 MW · 51 7 Oct 2023 · 1,032 MW · 143 8 Oct 2023 · 780 MW · 95 9 Oct 2023 · 291 MW · 82 10 Oct 2023 · 2,022 MW · 262 11 Oct 2023 · 1,902 MW · 216 13 Oct 2023 · 117 MW · 19 14 Oct 2023 · 1,375 MW · 189 15 Oct 2023 · 1,283 MW · 230 16 Oct 2023 · 1,436 MW · 169 17 Oct 2023 · 1,003 MW · 143 18 Oct 2023 · 225 MW · 57 19 Oct 2023 · 552 MW · 98 20 Oct 2023 · 1,756 MW · 240 21 Oct 2023 · 2,474 MW · 276 22 Oct 2023 · 952 MW · 158 23 Oct 2023 · 838 MW · 114 24 Oct 2023 · 416 MW · 112 25 Oct 2023 · 507 MW · 105 26 Oct 2023 · 478 MW · 83 27 Oct 2023 · 821 MW · 116 28 Oct 2023 · 318 MW · 40 29 Oct 2023 · 199 MW · 56 30 Oct 2023 · 152 MW · 69 31 Oct 2023 · 836 MW · 152 1 Nov 2023 · 1,198 MW · 99 3 Nov 2023 · 682 MW · 70 4 Nov 2023 · 80 MW · 36 5 Nov 2023 · 311 MW · 92 6 Nov 2023 · 546 MW · 112 7 Nov 2023 · 206 MW · 51 8 Nov 2023 · 1,425 MW · 65 9 Nov 2023 · 609 MW · 92 10 Nov 2023 · 752 MW · 110 11 Nov 2023 · 871 MW · 153 12 Nov 2023 · 631 MW · 133 13 Nov 2023 · 634 MW · 88 14 Nov 2023 · 353 MW · 55 15 Nov 2023 · 108 MW · 32 16 Nov 2023 · 312 MW · 65 17 Nov 2023 · 739 MW · 94 18 Nov 2023 · 694 MW · 121 19 Nov 2023 · 932 MW · 114 20 Nov 2023 · 216 MW · 59 21 Nov 2023 · 102 MW · 19 22 Nov 2023 · 26 MW · 5 23 Nov 2023 · 128 MW · 29 24 Nov 2023 · 268 MW · 31 25 Nov 2023 · 18 MW · 12 26 Nov 2023 · 124 MW · 38 27 Nov 2023 · 150 MW · 34 28 Nov 2023 · 162 MW · 25 29 Nov 2023 · 137 MW · 21 30 Nov 2023 · 39 MW · 7 1 Dec 2023 · 198 MW · 17 2 Dec 2023 · 14 MW · 5 3 Dec 2023 · 45 MW · 7 4 Dec 2023 · 55 MW · 9 5 Dec 2023 · 2 MW · 1 6 Dec 2023 · 10 MW · 7 7 Dec 2023 · 57 MW · 21 8 Dec 2023 · 7 MW · 2 9 Dec 2023 · 103 MW · 11 10 Dec 2023 · 24 MW · 4 11 Dec 2023 · 22 MW · 8
10 Sept 23 Sept 7 Oct 21 Oct 4 Nov 17 Nov 30 Nov

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
67km/h · peak gust
28%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 16.0 mm on 13 Dec.

This area had burned before

60% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,277 ha in 2017, 26,497 ha in 2018, 22,837 ha in 2019, 39,975 ha in 2020, 7,863 ha in 2021, 1,967 ha in 2022. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 74,518 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

20 km
It burned the equivalent of 79% of the area of London (1,245 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Cook where it started
    124,491 ha reached on 10 Sept
    1.2 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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)
10 Sept 29.4 °C 56 % 66 km/h 0.9 mm High 24
11 Sept 29.2 °C 48 % 63 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
12 Sept 28.7 °C 50 % 65 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
13 Sept 29.0 °C 51 % 63 km/h 0.5 mm High 29
14 Sept 28.4 °C 49 % 66 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
15 Sept 29.0 °C 38 % 57 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
16 Sept 29.5 °C 41 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
17 Sept 28.8 °C 48 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
18 Sept 30.6 °C 40 % 48 km/h 0.1 mm High 31
19 Sept 30.6 °C 48 % 53 km/h 0.2 mm High 32
20 Sept 29.5 °C 59 % 50 km/h 1.7 mm Moderate 14
21 Sept 30.5 °C 49 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
22 Sept 31.3 °C 37 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
23 Sept 29.5 °C 43 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
24 Sept 29.7 °C 51 % 59 km/h 0.3 mm High 34
25 Sept 30.3 °C 40 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
26 Sept 29.6 °C 45 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
27 Sept 30.4 °C 44 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
28 Sept 30.4 °C 50 % 59 km/h 0.4 mm High 36
29 Sept 28.7 °C 55 % 67 km/h 1.7 mm Moderate 21
30 Sept 28.3 °C 53 % 58 km/h 0.2 mm High 26
1 Oct 29.5 °C 51 % 49 km/h 0.1 mm High 26
2 Oct 31.2 °C 49 % 46 km/h 0.1 mm High 27
3 Oct 31.8 °C 41 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
4 Oct 32.2 °C 44 % 41 km/h 0.5 mm High 29
5 Oct 32.6 °C 36 % 44 km/h 0.1 mm High 33
6 Oct 31.0 °C 55 % 53 km/h 0.7 mm High 26
7 Oct 30.7 °C 46 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
8 Oct 30.9 °C 41 % 59 km/h 0.2 mm High 36
9 Oct 29.8 °C 52 % 58 km/h 1.2 mm High 23
10 Oct 30.4 °C 47 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
11 Oct 30.4 °C 47 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
12 Oct 28.5 °C 63 % 56 km/h 0.7 mm High 23
13 Oct 30.7 °C 53 % 51 km/h 0.4 mm High 27
14 Oct 32.5 °C 35 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
15 Oct 32.6 °C 35 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
16 Oct 33.0 °C 35 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Oct 34.1 °C 31 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
18 Oct 32.7 °C 43 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
19 Oct 31.0 °C 54 % 55 km/h 1.2 mm High 23
20 Oct 30.9 °C 38 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
21 Oct 30.9 °C 44 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
22 Oct 32.4 °C 41 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
23 Oct 33.2 °C 28 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
24 Oct 32.7 °C 37 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
25 Oct 31.5 °C 41 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Oct 33.2 °C 41 % 42 km/h 0.2 mm High 36
27 Oct 33.4 °C 42 % 40 km/h 0.2 mm High 36
28 Oct 32.3 °C 50 % 52 km/h 1.1 mm High 26
29 Oct 32.2 °C 45 % 55 km/h 0.2 mm High 34
30 Oct 30.5 °C 48 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
31 Oct 31.4 °C 42 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
1 Nov 31.2 °C 44 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
2 Nov 32.9 °C 40 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
3 Nov 32.1 °C 46 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
4 Nov 32.0 °C 44 % 54 km/h 0.1 mm High 38
5 Nov 32.3 °C 44 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
6 Nov 32.0 °C 43 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
7 Nov 32.1 °C 47 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
8 Nov 32.9 °C 42 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
9 Nov 33.0 °C 38 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
10 Nov 33.1 °C 38 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
11 Nov 32.4 °C 36 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Nov 31.6 °C 41 % 48 km/h 0.7 mm High 32
13 Nov 32.3 °C 42 % 40 km/h 1.4 mm High 23
14 Nov 32.1 °C 48 % 42 km/h 1.4 mm Moderate 20
15 Nov 31.1 °C 55 % 42 km/h 2.0 mm Moderate 13
16 Nov 31.8 °C 51 % 42 km/h 0.4 mm High 23
17 Nov 32.4 °C 41 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
18 Nov 33.3 °C 35 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
19 Nov 33.0 °C 40 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
20 Nov 33.0 °C 46 % 51 km/h 1.1 mm High 28
21 Nov 33.7 °C 51 % 50 km/h 3.7 mm Moderate 13
22 Nov 32.6 °C 53 % 52 km/h 3.7 mm Low 10
23 Nov 33.2 °C 49 % 51 km/h 1.3 mm Moderate 19
24 Nov 33.2 °C 49 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
25 Nov 33.1 °C 44 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
26 Nov 34.2 °C 42 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
27 Nov 33.3 °C 45 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
28 Nov 32.7 °C 49 % 36 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 18
29 Nov 34.4 °C 52 % 34 km/h 1.2 mm Moderate 15
30 Nov 33.9 °C 51 % 35 km/h 2.6 mm Low 9
1 Dec 33.6 °C 50 % 38 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 17
2 Dec 34.9 °C 46 % 41 km/h 0.6 mm High 24
3 Dec 36.3 °C 41 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
4 Dec 35.9 °C 36 % 43 km/h 0.1 mm High 31
5 Dec 33.9 °C 49 % 48 km/h 0.6 mm High 26
6 Dec 33.3 °C 49 % 48 km/h 0.7 mm High 25
7 Dec 33.4 °C 48 % 42 km/h 0.6 mm High 24
8 Dec 33.8 °C 43 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm High 25
9 Dec 34.3 °C 43 % 37 km/h 0.5 mm High 26
10 Dec 34.3 °C 45 % 38 km/h 3.0 mm Low 11
11 Dec 33.6 °C 47 % 30 km/h 7.4 mm Very low 4
12 Dec 36.4 °C 43 % 28 km/h 5.4 mm Very low 4
13 Dec after 34.7 °C 52 % 44 km/h 16.0 mm Very low 2

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 3 Sept 2023
After · 19 Dec 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 13 November 2023 the air beside the fire reached 26 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak26 µg/m³
Days over the guideline0 days
PM1039 µg/m³
Optical depth0.60
8910111213141516171819202122232425262728293012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930123456789101112131415
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 · 6,616Every 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 10 September 2023 and 12 December 2023: 94 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 124,452 hectares (1,244.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Cook (124,491 ha, 1.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.4 °C, humidity dropped to 28 % and gusts hit 67 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class High.
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 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 6 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 6,616 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

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.