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AU · Australia · –

East Arnhem fire, 22 September 2018 East Arnhem

Out · last detection 7 Nov 2018, 04:40 UTC

The fire started on 22 September 2018 in East Arnhem, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 47 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 17,662 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.

This entry is probably a savanna fire in Australia’s tropical north, not a bushfire like those in the south of the country. Millions of hectares of northern savanna and grassland burn every year: much of it in burns lit on purpose early in the dry season (traditional fire management, parks and cattle stations), the rest in grass fires that return to the same ground every few years. This is our assumption, based on the location; it is not confirmed. That is why it is left out of the wildfire rankings.

Compare with…

Suggestions: East Arnhem · 2020East Arnhem · 2022

Burnt area
17,662ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
47days
22 Sept 2018 – 7 Nov 2018
Municipalities hit
1
local government areas
Started on
22 Sept
2018
Heat detections
919
in a single hotspot: 125 MW
Danger at start
66
Extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
174MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 22 Sept7 Nov
7 Nov 2018

How it evolved, day by day

22 Sept 2018 · 17 MW · 4 23 Sept 2018 · 20 MW · 4 24 Sept 2018 · 1 MW · 1 25 Sept 2018 · 76 MW · 11 26 Sept 2018 · 8 MW · 2 27 Sept 2018 · 17 MW · 3 28 Sept 2018 · 27 MW · 5 29 Sept 2018 · 33 MW · 9 30 Sept 2018 · 113 MW · 25 1 Oct 2018 · 85 MW · 17 2 Oct 2018 · 114 MW · 17 3 Oct 2018 · 46 MW · 14 4 Oct 2018 · 294 MW · 19 5 Oct 2018 · 332 MW · 20 6 Oct 2018 · 371 MW · 41 7 Oct 2018 · 137 MW · 13 8 Oct 2018 · 44 MW · 10 9 Oct 2018 · 10 MW · 2 10 Oct 2018 · 173 MW · 23 11 Oct 2018 · 79 MW · 14 12 Oct 2018 · 223 MW · 20 13 Oct 2018 · 81 MW · 13 14 Oct 2018 · 124 MW · 21 15 Oct 2018 · 70 MW · 19 16 Oct 2018 · 79 MW · 18 17 Oct 2018 · 101 MW · 24 18 Oct 2018 · 34 MW · 6 19 Oct 2018 · 26 MW · 9 20 Oct 2018 · 351 MW · 25 21 Oct 2018 · 136 MW · 24 22 Oct 2018 · 803 MW · 87 23 Oct 2018 · 1,047 MW · 71 24 Oct 2018 · 148 MW · 25 25 Oct 2018 · 215 MW · 23 26 Oct 2018 · 209 MW · 44 27 Oct 2018 · 122 MW · 25 28 Oct 2018 · 112 MW · 21 29 Oct 2018 · 135 MW · 20 30 Oct 2018 · 13 MW · 2 31 Oct 2018 · 1 MW · 1 1 Nov 2018 · 667 MW · 40 2 Nov 2018 · 877 MW · 56 3 Nov 2018 · 259 MW · 31 4 Nov 2018 · 182 MW · 30 5 Nov 2018 · 6 MW · 1 6 Nov 2018 · 101 MW · 6 7 Nov 2018 · 39 MW · 3
22 Sept 2 Oct 12 Oct 23 Oct 1 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

35°high
54km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone 10 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.5 mm on 10 Nov.

This area had burned before

30% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,474 ha in 2016, 2,189 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 5,281 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 11% of the area of London (177 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. East Arnhem where it started
    17,676 ha reached on 22 Sept
    0.5 %

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 2020
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, 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.

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)

Started with Extreme FWI: 43 % of the area in Australia

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
22 Sept 34.3 °C 23 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
23 Sept 31.8 °C 38 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
24 Sept 32.1 °C 33 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
25 Sept 31.8 °C 32 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
26 Sept 30.0 °C 45 % 44 km/h 0.6 mm Very high 39
27 Sept 29.0 °C 53 % 37 km/h 1.2 mm High 26
28 Sept 32.0 °C 35 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
29 Sept 32.9 °C 26 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
30 Sept 32.1 °C 27 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
1 Oct 32.3 °C 34 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
2 Oct 33.0 °C 31 % 50 km/h 0.2 mm Extreme 58
3 Oct 32.8 °C 37 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Oct 31.8 °C 40 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
5 Oct 32.6 °C 37 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
6 Oct 34.8 °C 21 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
7 Oct 33.7 °C 24 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
8 Oct 32.9 °C 34 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
9 Oct 33.2 °C 39 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
10 Oct 33.1 °C 38 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
11 Oct 33.5 °C 38 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
12 Oct 34.6 °C 32 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
13 Oct 33.9 °C 34 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
14 Oct 33.6 °C 40 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
15 Oct 32.4 °C 47 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
16 Oct 33.0 °C 48 % 44 km/h 0.6 mm Very high 42
17 Oct 34.0 °C 40 % 37 km/h 3.6 mm High 38
18 Oct 32.9 °C 46 % 38 km/h 0.5 mm Moderate 16
19 Oct 32.9 °C 46 % 41 km/h 0.4 mm High 30
20 Oct 32.9 °C 44 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
21 Oct 33.0 °C 46 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
22 Oct 33.6 °C 45 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm High 31
23 Oct 33.7 °C 40 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
24 Oct 32.9 °C 48 % 41 km/h 1.3 mm Very high 39
25 Oct 32.8 °C 44 % 41 km/h 0.5 mm High 32
26 Oct 33.5 °C 38 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
27 Oct 33.6 °C 33 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
28 Oct 32.9 °C 43 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Oct 32.8 °C 52 % 36 km/h 0.4 mm High 34
30 Oct 34.0 °C 46 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
31 Oct 33.5 °C 53 % 54 km/h 0.8 mm Very high 41
1 Nov 34.6 °C 43 % 47 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 46
2 Nov 34.7 °C 45 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
3 Nov 34.2 °C 39 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
4 Nov 34.1 °C 50 % 41 km/h 2.2 mm Very high 39
5 Nov 34.0 °C 47 % 44 km/h 2.2 mm High 28
6 Nov 32.8 °C 46 % 38 km/h 0.5 mm High 25
7 Nov 33.7 °C 37 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
8 Nov after 36.0 °C 32 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
9 Nov after 35.1 °C 42 % 38 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 44
10 Nov after 34.7 °C 43 % 39 km/h 1.5 mm Very high 38

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 15 Sept 2018
After · 14 Nov 2018

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 · 919Every 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 East Arnhem fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 22 September 2018 to 7 November 2018 (47 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 September 2018 to 6 November 2018.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 17,662 hectares (176.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered East Arnhem (17,676 ha, 0.5 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.8 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 66, 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 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 6 November 2018 → 7 November 2018.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 22 September 2018 to 6 November 2018. 919 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 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
  • Probably a vegetation burn: not counted in the totals.

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.