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Esperance fire, November 2019 Esperance, Dundas

Out · last detection 7 Jan 2020, 17:45 UTC

The fire started on 26 November 2019 in Esperance, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 44 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 95,329 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 23th largest in Western Australia since 2016 (of 2728 with a page). Number 28 in Australia in 2019, of 802.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Esperance · 2017Esperance · 2019Esperance · 2019Esperance · 2017

Burnt area
95,329ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
44days
26 Nov 2019 – 8 Jan 2020
Municipalities hit
2
local government areas
Started on
26 Nov
2019
Heat detections
7,329
in a single hotspot: 794 MW
Danger at start
31
High · FWI index
Average daily power
4.1GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 26 Nov8 Jan
7 Jan 2020

How it evolved, day by day

26 Nov 2019 · 483 MW · 58 27 Nov 2019 · 409 MW · 27 30 Nov 2019 · 19 MW · 4 2 Dec 2019 · 2 MW · 1 3 Dec 2019 · 1,321 MW · 42 4 Dec 2019 · 9,374 MW · 880 5 Dec 2019 · 271 MW · 19 6 Dec 2019 · 2,959 MW · 129 7 Dec 2019 · 14 MW · 18 8 Dec 2019 · 1,731 MW · 46 9 Dec 2019 · 1,707 MW · 134 10 Dec 2019 · 545 MW · 48 11 Dec 2019 · 383 MW · 58 12 Dec 2019 · 406 MW · 50 13 Dec 2019 · 4,264 MW · 159 14 Dec 2019 · 20,345 MW · 2201 15 Dec 2019 · 38,643 MW · 841 16 Dec 2019 · 3,503 MW · 294 17 Dec 2019 · 2,755 MW · 265 18 Dec 2019 · 3,220 MW · 236 19 Dec 2019 · 2,190 MW · 236 20 Dec 2019 · 3,172 MW · 185 21 Dec 2019 · 341 MW · 31 22 Dec 2019 · 1,163 MW · 64 24 Dec 2019 · 16 MW · 2 25 Dec 2019 · 35 MW · 3 26 Dec 2019 · 837 MW · 11 29 Dec 2019 · 2,985 MW · 27 30 Dec 2019 · 275 MW · 33 31 Dec 2019 · 131 MW · 22 1 Jan 2020 · 3,001 MW · 119 2 Jan 2020 · 28,883 MW · 465 3 Jan 2020 · 79 MW · 5 4 Jan 2020 · 32 MW · 2 5 Jan 2020 · 516 MW · 40 6 Jan 2020 · 2,223 MW · 126 7 Jan 2020 · 12,835 MW · 448
26 Nov 5 Dec 11 Dec 15 Dec 17 Dec 24 Dec 1 Jan 7 Jan

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

The weather it burned in

44°high
64km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.8 mm on 9 Jan.

This area had burned before

0% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 344 ha in 2017.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 60% of the area of London (953 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. Esperance where it started
    91,679 ha reached on 26 Nov
    2.0 %
  2. Dundas
    3,434 ha reached on 16 Dec
    0.0 %

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.

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)
26 Nov 25.8 °C 30 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
27 Nov 29.2 °C 27 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
28 Nov 21.8 °C 48 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
29 Nov 20.4 °C 39 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
30 Nov 21.5 °C 34 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
1 Dec 23.4 °C 51 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
2 Dec 28.1 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
3 Dec 32.1 °C 20 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
4 Dec 39.5 °C 11 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
5 Dec 27.5 °C 42 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
6 Dec 32.4 °C 28 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
7 Dec 35.4 °C 21 % 61 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
8 Dec 25.7 °C 35 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
9 Dec 25.3 °C 30 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
10 Dec 26.0 °C 31 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
11 Dec 23.6 °C 41 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
12 Dec 26.6 °C 38 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Dec 32.4 °C 20 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Dec 37.2 °C 14 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
15 Dec 42.0 °C 9 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
16 Dec 38.6 °C 21 % 49 km/h 1.9 mm Very high 42
17 Dec 36.7 °C 28 % 40 km/h 1.0 mm High 36
18 Dec 34.6 °C 28 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
19 Dec 43.7 °C 10 % 62 km/h 0.7 mm Very extreme 82
20 Dec 29.4 °C 28 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
21 Dec 30.1 °C 37 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Dec 37.3 °C 27 % 43 km/h 0.9 mm Very high 40
23 Dec 34.5 °C 35 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
24 Dec 30.6 °C 42 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
25 Dec 30.5 °C 46 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
26 Dec 37.0 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.7 mm Very high 40
27 Dec 32.9 °C 34 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
28 Dec 31.7 °C 28 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
29 Dec 39.7 °C 14 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
30 Dec 26.3 °C 27 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
31 Dec 29.2 °C 25 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Jan 34.5 °C 23 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
2 Jan 39.5 °C 15 % 64 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
3 Jan 23.9 °C 30 % 58 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
4 Jan 22.1 °C 33 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
5 Jan 28.3 °C 21 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
6 Jan 33.1 °C 15 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
7 Jan 37.1 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
8 Jan 39.7 °C 20 % 54 km/h 0.1 mm Extreme 69
9 Jan after 22.2 °C 55 % 40 km/h 2.8 mm Low 9

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 19 Nov 2019
After · 15 Jan 2020

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 · 7,329Every 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 Esperance fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 26 November 2019 to 8 January 2020 (44 days). The perimeter dates it from 3 December 2019 to 8 January 2020.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 95,329 hectares (953.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Esperance (91,679 ha, 2.0 %); Dundas (3,434 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 43.7 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 64 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 82, 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 · 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. Start date: 3 December 2019 → 26 November 2019.

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; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 3 December 2019 to 8 January 2020. 7,329 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.

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.