How long did the Flinders (Qld) fire last?

GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 December 2018 and 13 January 2019: 20 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 14,321 hectares (143.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire entered 2 municipalities: Flinders (Qld) (7,376 ha, 0.2 %); Etheridge (7,004 ha, 0.2 %).

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 35.8 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 64 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, 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.

AU · Australia · 2018-12-25 → 2019-01-13

Flinders (Qld) fire, December 2018 Flinders (Qld), Etheridge

Out · last detection 13 Jan 2019, 14:52 UTC

The fire started on 25 December 2018 in Flinders (Qld), Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 20 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 14,321 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 493th largest in Queensland since 2016 (of 1737 with a page). Number 226 in Australia in 2018, of 923.

Burnt area: 14,321ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 20days; 25 Dec 2018 – 13 Jan 2019
Municipalities hit: 2; local government areas
Started on: 25 Dec; 2018
Heat detections: 855; in a single hotspot: 63 MW
Danger at start: 14; Moderate · FWI index
Energy released: 4.1GW; sum of detected power

Play back 13 Jan 2019

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 25 Dec13 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

2526272830311234567910111213

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

64km/h · peak gust

18%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 2.8 mm on 27 Jan.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

Flinders (Qld) where it started

7,376 ha reached on 19 Dec

0.2 %
Etheridge

7,004 ha reached on 20 Dec

0.2 %

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)
18 Dec	33.6 °C	25 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 14
19 Dec	33.5 °C	30 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 16
20 Dec	34.9 °C	24 %	32 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 17
21 Dec	35.8 °C	22 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
22 Dec	35.1 °C	26 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
23 Dec	32.1 °C	36 %	42 km/h	1.9 mm	Low 9
24 Dec	29.5 °C	39 %	60 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
25 Dec	30.3 °C	33 %	48 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 17
26 Dec	31.3 °C	31 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
27 Dec	32.7 °C	26 %	51 km/h	0.0 mm	High 23
28 Dec	31.0 °C	26 %	52 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
29 Dec	30.0 °C	37 %	54 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
30 Dec	28.5 °C	45 %	64 km/h	0.3 mm	High 24
31 Dec	28.5 °C	30 %	55 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
1 Jan	31.0 °C	26 %	57 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
2 Jan	31.9 °C	19 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
3 Jan	32.5 °C	18 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
4 Jan	30.5 °C	28 %	39 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
5 Jan	31.4 °C	24 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
6 Jan	31.6 °C	29 %	34 km/h	0.5 mm	High 24
7 Jan	32.0 °C	34 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
8 Jan	32.9 °C	31 %	40 km/h	4.2 mm	Low 9
9 Jan	34.0 °C	27 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 22
10 Jan	30.4 °C	41 %	44 km/h	1.8 mm	Moderate 12
11 Jan	25.2 °C	75 %	47 km/h	11.5 mm	Very low 0
12 Jan	31.1 °C	35 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 7
13 Jan	30.9 °C	24 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 21
14 Jan after	29.1 °C	38 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 19
15 Jan after	30.7 °C	35 %	44 km/h	0.3 mm	Moderate 20
16 Jan after	32.1 °C	22 %	41 km/h	0.0 mm	High 23
17 Jan after	31.7 °C	25 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
18 Jan after	30.7 °C	31 %	42 km/h	0.3 mm	High 26
19 Jan after	32.6 °C	32 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
20 Jan after	31.6 °C	29 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
21 Jan after	31.5 °C	25 %	50 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
22 Jan after	31.4 °C	29 %	45 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
23 Jan after	33.0 °C	26 %	44 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
24 Jan after	33.5 °C	26 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 29
25 Jan after	27.3 °C	50 %	45 km/h	0.4 mm	Moderate 20
26 Jan after	27.7 °C	46 %	56 km/h	0.6 mm	Moderate 21
27 Jan after	26.3 °C	58 %	64 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 · 18 Dec 2018

After · 20 Jan 2019

Before After

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 · 855Every 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 time	Satellite	FRP (MW)	Lat	Lon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Australia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Flinders (Qld) fire last?: GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 December 2018 and 13 January 2019: 20 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 14,321 hectares (143.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire entered 2 municipalities: Flinders (Qld) (7,376 ha, 0.2 %); Etheridge (7,004 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 35.8 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 64 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 29, 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

Satellite cross-check

NASA FIRMS ↗
GWIS · Copernicus ↗

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.

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What really happened?

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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.

Where it burned