Cook fire, 17 August 2026 Cook
The fire started on 17 August 2026 in Cook, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 68 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 37,740 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 141th largest in Queensland since 2016 (of 1737 with a page). Number 55 in Australia in 2026, of 859.
Is it still active?
Satellites detected fire on 23 Oct 2026, 16:11 UTC. Everything suggests it is still burning. Satellites pass a few times a day and cloud or smoke can hide the fire: a lack of detections is not an official extinction. Each country’s emergency service declares a fire contained or out.
- Burnt area
- 37,740ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 68days
- 17 Aug 2026 – 23 Oct 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- local government areas
- Started on
- 17 Aug
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 982
- in a single hotspot: 432 MW
- Danger at start
- 34
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 11.5GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 33 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
55% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 279 ha in 2016, 1,845 ha in 2017, 8,302 ha in 2018, 12,337 ha in 2019, 1,432 ha in 2020, 2,061 ha in 2021, 4,237 ha in 2022, 12,363 ha in 2023, 1,360 ha in 2024, 7,620 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 20,635 ha that had burned before.
- 9,258 ha Cook fire, September 2019 15,007 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 5,275 ha Cook fire, October 2025 15,797 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 4,693 ha Cook fire, July 2018 14,681 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,867 ha Cook fire, August 2023 9,227 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,354 ha Cook fire, September 2019 27,252 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 1,352 ha Cook fire, September 2023 124,452 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 736 ha Cook fire, October 2020 8,145 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 342 ha Cook fire, October 2022 38,082 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Cook where it started21,684 ha reached on 17 Aug0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Aug | 29.5 °C | 35 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 18 Aug | 29.3 °C | 43 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 19 Aug | 28.4 °C | 50 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 20 Aug | 29.9 °C | 42 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 21 Aug | 29.5 °C | 39 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 22 Aug | 30.1 °C | 36 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 23 Aug | 30.8 °C | 32 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 24 Aug | 30.7 °C | 38 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 25 Aug | 30.6 °C | 46 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 26 Aug | 31.4 °C | 47 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 27 Aug | 31.0 °C | 48 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 28 Aug | 30.6 °C | 46 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 29 Aug | 29.5 °C | 44 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 30 Aug | 28.6 °C | 45 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 31 Aug | 28.8 °C | 46 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 1 Sept | 30.5 °C | 42 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 2 Sept | 29.4 °C | 49 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 3 Sept | 30.8 °C | 46 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 4 Sept | 29.6 °C | 50 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 5 Sept | 30.9 °C | 39 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 6 Sept | 31.2 °C | 41 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 7 Sept | 32.5 °C | 34 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 8 Sept | 32.8 °C | 37 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 9 Sept | 29.8 °C | 57 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 10 Sept | 29.2 °C | 49 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 11 Sept | 28.3 °C | 48 % | 62 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 12 Sept | 29.5 °C | 45 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 13 Sept | 29.2 °C | 50 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 14 Sept | 30.2 °C | 41 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 15 Sept | 30.9 °C | 40 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 16 Sept | 30.3 °C | 42 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 17 Sept | 30.4 °C | 46 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 18 Sept | 30.0 °C | 40 % | 63 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 19 Sept | 29.9 °C | 38 % | 60 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
| 20 Sept | 30.6 °C | 39 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 21 Sept | 29.8 °C | 46 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 22 Sept | 31.0 °C | 40 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 23 Sept | 30.4 °C | 43 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 24 Sept | 30.3 °C | 46 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 25 Sept | 29.8 °C | 49 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 26 Sept | 30.3 °C | 47 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 27 Sept | 30.7 °C | 44 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 28 Sept | 31.0 °C | 45 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 29 Sept | 29.8 °C | 54 % | 53 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 33 |
| 30 Sept | 29.5 °C | 54 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
| 1 Oct | 30.0 °C | 46 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 2 Oct | 30.8 °C | 39 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 3 Oct | 28.7 °C | 54 % | 51 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 4 Oct | 30.6 °C | 36 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 5 Oct | 31.2 °C | 35 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 33 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · CopernicusOn 19 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 29 µg/m³ of PM2.5, but no daily average passed the WHO guideline (15).
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 · 982Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Cook fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 17 August 2026 and 23 October 2026: 68 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 37,740 hectares (377.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Cook (21,684 ha, 0.2 %).
- Is the Cook fire still active?
- Yes: satellites detected fire on 23 Oct 2026, 16:11 UTC. Check the emergency service for the official status.
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 32.8 °C, humidity dropped to 32 % and gusts hit 63 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 40, class Very 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
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
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.