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Katingan fire, 17 September 2019 Katingan

Out · last measured on 28 Sept 2019

The fire started on 17 September 2019 in Katingan, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,282 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 60th largest in Central Kalimantan since 2016 (of 315 with a page). Number 52 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
6,282ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
12days
17 Sept 2019 – 28 Sept 2019
Municipalities hit
1
regencies
Started on
17 Sept
2019
Danger at start
22
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

33°high
44km/h · peak gust
50%lowest humidity

It had gone 21 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 3.4 mm on 30 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
    6,329 ha
    0.3 %

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)
17 Sept 31.0 °C 59 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
18 Sept 31.8 °C 53 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
19 Sept 31.8 °C 53 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
20 Sept 30.9 °C 58 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
21 Sept 32.2 °C 59 % 37 km/h 0.2 mm High 23
22 Sept 31.6 °C 60 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
23 Sept 32.2 °C 53 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
24 Sept 31.0 °C 64 % 39 km/h 2.4 mm Low 8
25 Sept 32.6 °C 50 % 41 km/h 1.8 mm Moderate 13
26 Sept 31.3 °C 63 % 42 km/h 11.4 mm Very low 4
27 Sept 29.7 °C 71 % 32 km/h 10.2 mm Very low 0
28 Sept 31.0 °C 60 % 38 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 3
29 Sept after 31.4 °C 62 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm Low 7
30 Sept after 30.2 °C 56 % 38 km/h 3.4 mm Very low 3

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 10 Sept 2019
After · 5 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 17 September 2019 and 28 September 2019: 12 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 6,282 hectares (62.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Katingan (6,329 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.6 °C, humidity dropped to 50 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 25, 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.