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Fakfak fire, 31 August 2026 Fakfak, Kaimana

Dying down · last detection 26 Oct 2026, 16:54 UTC

The fire started on 31 August 2026 in Fakfak, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 57 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 29,299 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

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 3th largest in West Papua since 2016 (of 47 with a page). Number 38 in Indonesia in 2026, of 1019.

The power measured by the satellite is low (12.3 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Fakfak · 2026

Is it still active?

No detections since 26 Oct 2026, 16:54 UTC. That usually means no flame is visible from space any more, although hotspots may remain. 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
29,299ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
57days
31 Aug 2026 – 26 Oct 2026
Municipalities hit
2
regencies
Started on
31 Aug
2026
Heat detections
645
in a single hotspot: 12 MW
Danger at start
8
Low · FWI index
Average daily power
31MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 31 Aug26 Oct
26 Oct 2026

How it evolved, day by day

31 Aug 2026 · 21 MW · 4 1 Sept 2026 · 6 MW · 4 2 Sept 2026 · 4 MW · 6 3 Sept 2026 · 5 MW · 4 7 Sept 2026 · 9 MW · 8 9 Sept 2026 · 7 MW · 7 10 Sept 2026 · 32 MW · 7 11 Sept 2026 · 9 MW · 7 12 Sept 2026 · 12 MW · 9 13 Sept 2026 · 68 MW · 49 14 Sept 2026 · 38 MW · 25 15 Sept 2026 · 112 MW · 28 16 Sept 2026 · 93 MW · 17 17 Sept 2026 · 78 MW · 30 18 Sept 2026 · 68 MW · 41 19 Sept 2026 · 20 MW · 14 20 Sept 2026 · 1 MW · 1 21 Sept 2026 · 42 MW · 11 22 Sept 2026 · 2 MW · 1 23 Sept 2026 · 63 MW · 45 24 Sept 2026 · 2 MW · 1 25 Sept 2026 · 24 MW · 14 26 Sept 2026 · 16 MW · 4 27 Sept 2026 · 2 MW · 1 28 Sept 2026 · 13 MW · 11 30 Sept 2026 · 43 MW · 29 1 Oct 2026 · 20 MW · 5 2 Oct 2026 · 0 MW · 0 3 Oct 2026 · 0 MW · 0 4 Oct 2026 · 83 MW · 59 5 Oct 2026 · 47 MW · 28 6 Oct 2026 · 25 MW · 9 7 Oct 2026 · 83 MW · 22 8 Oct 2026 · 0 MW · 0 9 Oct 2026 · 31 MW · 14 10 Oct 2026 · 21 MW · 28 11 Oct 2026 · 0 MW · 0 14 Oct 2026 · 25 MW · 16 15 Oct 2026 · 2 MW · 1 16 Oct 2026 · 23 MW · 13 17 Oct 2026 · 28 MW · 5 18 Oct 2026 · 37 MW · 7 19 Oct 2026 · 19 MW · 12 20 Oct 2026 · 10 MW · 7 21 Oct 2026 · 4 MW · 2 22 Oct 2026 · 36 MW · 7 23 Oct 2026 · 72 MW · 16 24 Oct 2026 · 8 MW · 4 26 Oct 2026 · 18 MW · 12
31 Aug 11 Sept 15 Sept 18 Sept 25 Sept 3 Oct 10 Oct 19 Oct

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

The weather it burned in

30°high
49km/h · peak gust
56%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 12.0 mm on 27 Oct.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 19% of the area of London (293 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. Fakfak where it started
    23,933 ha reached on 31 Aug
    2.2 %
  2. Kaimana
    4,702 ha reached on 3 Sept
    0.3 %

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) · forecast models, provisional until the ERA5 reanalysis arrives

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
31 Aug 27.0 °C 63 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
1 Sept 26.7 °C 70 % 40 km/h 1.1 mm Very low 5
2 Sept 27.1 °C 63 % 38 km/h 1.0 mm Low 6
3 Sept 27.3 °C 64 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
4 Sept 27.3 °C 68 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
5 Sept 27.2 °C 69 % 42 km/h 1.1 mm Low 6
6 Sept 28.0 °C 63 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm Low 9
7 Sept 27.2 °C 71 % 34 km/h 4.8 mm Very low 1
8 Sept 26.7 °C 72 % 40 km/h 1.8 mm Very low 2
9 Sept 26.4 °C 73 % 39 km/h 1.8 mm Very low 2
10 Sept 27.3 °C 62 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
11 Sept 26.9 °C 68 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
12 Sept 26.7 °C 64 % 36 km/h 2.9 mm Very low 2
13 Sept 26.4 °C 63 % 40 km/h 0.6 mm Very low 4
14 Sept 26.9 °C 61 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
15 Sept 27.3 °C 63 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
16 Sept 26.7 °C 65 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
17 Sept 26.7 °C 63 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
18 Sept 26.8 °C 66 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
19 Sept 27.2 °C 67 % 45 km/h 0.2 mm Low 10
20 Sept 26.6 °C 69 % 41 km/h 1.9 mm Very low 4
21 Sept 27.6 °C 60 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
22 Sept 27.7 °C 65 % 46 km/h 0.1 mm Low 10
23 Sept 27.5 °C 67 % 42 km/h 1.7 mm Very low 4
24 Sept 27.2 °C 69 % 36 km/h 2.5 mm Very low 2
25 Sept 27.5 °C 65 % 39 km/h 2.3 mm Very low 2
26 Sept 27.9 °C 66 % 40 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 4
27 Sept 27.7 °C 68 % 42 km/h 0.6 mm Low 6
28 Sept 28.0 °C 66 % 43 km/h 2.1 mm Very low 3
29 Sept 27.4 °C 62 % 34 km/h 2.9 mm Very low 2
30 Sept 27.6 °C 65 % 39 km/h 0.9 mm Very low 3
1 Oct 28.0 °C 63 % 38 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 4
2 Oct 27.9 °C 61 % 42 km/h 0.6 mm Low 7
3 Oct 27.2 °C 67 % 34 km/h 2.0 mm Very low 2
4 Oct 27.4 °C 66 % 40 km/h 0.7 mm Very low 4
5 Oct 27.8 °C 63 % 39 km/h 0.3 mm Low 7
6 Oct 28.0 °C 59 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
7 Oct 29.2 °C 56 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
8 Oct 29.1 °C 60 % 35 km/h 1.1 mm Low 6
9 Oct 28.6 °C 65 % 30 km/h 2.6 mm Very low 2
10 Oct 28.8 °C 66 % 32 km/h 4.8 mm Very low 1
11 Oct 29.6 °C 61 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
12 Oct 27.7 °C 69 % 37 km/h 6.1 mm Very low 0
13 Oct 26.5 °C 81 % 27 km/h 22.6 mm Very low 0
14 Oct 27.2 °C 80 % 28 km/h 9.0 mm Very low 0
15 Oct 26.4 °C 78 % 27 km/h 6.1 mm Very low 0
16 Oct 26.6 °C 78 % 32 km/h 14.0 mm Very low 0
17 Oct 28.2 °C 65 % 35 km/h 3.5 mm Very low 0
18 Oct 27.6 °C 71 % 34 km/h 5.9 mm Very low 0
19 Oct 28.4 °C 61 % 42 km/h 0.3 mm Very low 0
20 Oct 26.8 °C 74 % 31 km/h 5.3 mm Very low 0
21 Oct 28.2 °C 67 % 36 km/h 5.3 mm Very low 0
22 Oct 28.5 °C 68 % 32 km/h 5.6 mm Very low 0
23 Oct 28.5 °C 84 % 27 km/h 7.5 mm Very low 0
24 Oct 28.6 °C 72 % 27 km/h 7.4 mm Very low 0
25 Oct 27.7 °C 80 % 27 km/h 8.9 mm Very low 0
26 Oct 28.1 °C 76 % 29 km/h 13.5 mm Very low 0
27 Oct after 28.1 °C 80 % 23 km/h 12.0 mm Very low 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Aug 2026
After · 27 Oct 2026

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 11 October 2026 the air beside the fire reached 136 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 97: 6.5 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak136 µg/m³
Days over the guideline48 days
PM10146 µg/m³
Optical depth3.46
2930311234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829301234567891011121314151617181920212223242526
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 · 645Every 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 Indonesia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Fakfak fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 31 August 2026 to 26 October 2026 (57 days). The perimeter dates it from 6 September 2026 to 26 October 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 29,299 hectares (293.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Fakfak (23,933 ha, 2.2 %); Kaimana (4,702 ha, 0.3 %).
Is the Fakfak fire still active?
No fire detections since 26 Oct 2026, 16:54 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.6 °C, humidity dropped to 56 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 11, class Low.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Indonesia (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: 112 · 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. Area: 28,177 → 28,973 ha.

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 112.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 4 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 6 September 2026 to 26 October 2026. 645 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: ECMWF IFS model, provisional until the ERA5 reanalysis arrives.

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 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). 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.