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Katingan fire, August 2019 Katingan

Out · last measured on 26 Sept 2019

The fire started on 31 August 2019 in Katingan, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 27 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,008 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 137th largest in Central Kalimantan since 2016 (of 310 with a page). Number 169 in Indonesia in 2019, of 418.

We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but the VIIRS sensors did not capture it in enough detail: no day-by-day evolution, but the split by municipality is there.

Burnt area
3,008ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
27days
31 Aug 2019 – 26 Sept 2019
Municipalities hit
1
regencies
Started on
31 Aug
2019
Danger at start
12
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

36°high
35km/h · peak gust
33%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 10.6 mm on 27 Sept.

This area had burned before

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

What happened to each town

  1. Katingan where it started
    3,029 ha
    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)
31 Aug 33.2 °C 51 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 12
1 Sept 32.6 °C 57 % 31 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 5
2 Sept 34.6 °C 46 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm Low 10
3 Sept 34.1 °C 43 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
4 Sept 34.4 °C 40 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
5 Sept 34.1 °C 41 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
6 Sept 33.9 °C 43 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
7 Sept 34.1 °C 47 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
8 Sept 34.0 °C 48 % 30 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 18
9 Sept 35.4 °C 44 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
10 Sept 36.0 °C 36 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
11 Sept 35.5 °C 33 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
12 Sept 34.3 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
13 Sept 34.0 °C 35 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
14 Sept 34.4 °C 34 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
15 Sept 34.0 °C 43 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
16 Sept 33.8 °C 45 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
17 Sept 33.6 °C 50 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
18 Sept 35.4 °C 38 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
19 Sept 34.9 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
20 Sept 34.2 °C 44 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
21 Sept 34.4 °C 51 % 20 km/h 0.5 mm High 22
22 Sept 34.4 °C 50 % 28 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 17
23 Sept 36.1 °C 41 % 31 km/h 0.2 mm High 23
24 Sept 34.0 °C 52 % 35 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 15
25 Sept 36.0 °C 35 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
26 Sept 35.4 °C 46 % 31 km/h 2.3 mm Moderate 13
27 Sept after 32.3 °C 59 % 28 km/h 10.6 mm Very low 2

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Aug 2019
After · 3 Oct 2019

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Other fires nearby

All fires in Indonesia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Katingan fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 31 August 2019 and 26 September 2019: 27 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 3,008 hectares (30.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Katingan (3,029 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.1 °C, humidity dropped to 33 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 28, class High.
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

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
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.

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.