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Katingan fire, 20 August 2026 Katingan

Out · last measured on 9 Sept 2026

The fire started on 20 August 2026 in Katingan, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 21 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,762 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 256th largest in Central Kalimantan since 2016 (of 310 with a page). Number 777 in Indonesia in 2026, of 988.

We have the GWIS perimeter for this fire, but not yet its hotspots: NASA publishes the yearly hotspot archive only once the year closes. The page picks them up automatically when they are available.

Burnt area
1,762ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
21days
20 Aug 2026 – 9 Sept 2026
Municipalities hit
1
regencies
Started on
20 Aug
2026
Danger at start
25
High · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

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

It had gone 18 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

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
    1,774 ha
    0.1 %

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)
20 Aug 34.5 °C 43 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
21 Aug 34.7 °C 40 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
22 Aug 34.0 °C 48 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
23 Aug 33.2 °C 51 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
24 Aug 32.7 °C 54 % 23 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 20
25 Aug 34.0 °C 43 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
26 Aug 34.7 °C 41 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
27 Aug 33.9 °C 44 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
28 Aug 34.3 °C 39 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
29 Aug 34.7 °C 36 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
30 Aug 35.2 °C 38 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
31 Aug 34.7 °C 44 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
1 Sept 34.5 °C 39 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
2 Sept 34.3 °C 39 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
3 Sept 33.4 °C 46 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
4 Sept 33.2 °C 50 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
5 Sept 33.7 °C 44 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
6 Sept 33.7 °C 47 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
7 Sept 32.2 °C 60 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
8 Sept 33.0 °C 53 % 24 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 21
9 Sept 33.7 °C 45 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
10 Sept after 34.4 °C 46 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
11 Sept after 34.8 °C 42 % 26 km/h 0.2 mm High 26
12 Sept after 34.1 °C 46 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
13 Sept after 32.8 °C 59 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
14 Sept after 33.8 °C 45 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
15 Sept after 32.9 °C 49 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
16 Sept after 30.7 °C 60 % 14 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
17 Sept after 29.0 °C 68 % 15 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 15
18 Sept after 34.3 °C 44 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
19 Sept after 34.9 °C 43 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 24

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 13 Aug 2026
After · 16 Sept 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 5 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 680 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 290: 19 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak680 µg/m³
Days over the guideline26 days
PM10693 µg/m³
Optical depth8.63
1819202122232425262728293031123456789101112
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)

Other fires nearby

All fires in Indonesia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Katingan fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 August 2026 and 9 September 2026: 21 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 1,762 hectares (17.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Katingan (1,774 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.2 °C, humidity dropped to 36 % and gusts hit 35 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 30, 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.