How long did the Luwu Timur fire last?

According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 17 July 2026 to 24 October 2026 (100 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 July 2026 to 23 October 2026.

How much area did it burn?

The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,277 hectares (22.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.

Which municipalities burned?

The fire only entered Luwu Timur (2,094 ha, 0.3 %).

Is the Luwu Timur fire still active?

Yes: satellites detected fire on 24 Oct 2026, 05:33 UTC. Check the emergency service for the official status.

What was the weather like?

During the fire the temperature reached 34.3 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, 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.

ID · Indonesia · 2026-07-17 → 2026-10-24

Luwu Timur fire, July 2026 Luwu Timur

Burning · last detection 24 Oct 2026, 05:33 UTC

The fire started on 17 July 2026 in Luwu Timur, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 100 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,277 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

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.

It is the 11th largest in South Sulawesi since 2016 (of 21 with a page). Number 568 in Indonesia in 2026, of 1005.

Is it still active?

Satellites detected fire on 24 Oct 2026, 05:33 UTC. Everything suggests it is still burning. 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: 2,277ha; GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration: 100days; 17 Jul 2026 – 24 Oct 2026
Municipalities hit: 1; regencies
Started on: 17 Jul; 2026
Heat detections: 689; in a single hotspot: 102 MW
Danger at start: 1; Very low · FWI index
Energy released: 7.7GW; sum of detected power

Play back 24 Oct 2026

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 17 Jul24 Oct

How it evolved, day by day

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

The weather it burned in

34°high

42km/h · peak gust

24%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

86% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 9,463 ha in 2016, 8,499 ha in 2017, 7,776 ha in 2018, 8,002 ha in 2019, 9,396 ha in 2020, 8,601 ha in 2021, 8,351 ha in 2022, 8,526 ha in 2023, 8,916 ha in 2024, 7,587 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,967 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

Luwu Timur where it started

2,094 ha reached on 17 Jul

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 Jul	29.0 °C	50 %	8 km/h	1.4 mm	Very low 1
18 Jul	28.5 °C	57 %	9 km/h	4.6 mm	Very low 0
19 Jul	26.8 °C	64 %	7 km/h	9.1 mm	Very low 0
20 Jul	27.6 °C	63 %	6 km/h	7.8 mm	Very low 0
21 Jul	25.5 °C	80 %	4 km/h	10.4 mm	Very low 0
22 Jul	25.6 °C	69 %	8 km/h	5.3 mm	Very low 0
23 Jul	26.4 °C	68 %	8 km/h	2.9 mm	Very low 0
24 Jul	27.5 °C	62 %	6 km/h	5.9 mm	Very low 0
25 Jul	27.6 °C	57 %	9 km/h	5.8 mm	Very low 0
26 Jul	27.1 °C	59 %	7 km/h	3.1 mm	Very low 0
27 Jul	28.0 °C	56 %	9 km/h	4.0 mm	Very low 0
28 Jul	28.1 °C	59 %	35 km/h	2.9 mm	Very low 0
29 Jul	27.3 °C	66 %	31 km/h	2.3 mm	Very low 0
30 Jul	29.6 °C	51 %	28 km/h	0.3 mm	Very low 1
31 Jul	27.7 °C	65 %	24 km/h	1.1 mm	Very low 1
1 Aug	29.2 °C	49 %	30 km/h	0.6 mm	Very low 4
2 Aug	29.4 °C	50 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 5
3 Aug	29.7 °C	45 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 8
4 Aug	30.0 °C	45 %	30 km/h	0.4 mm	Low 8
5 Aug	29.2 °C	46 %	34 km/h	0.3 mm	Low 9
6 Aug	29.1 °C	45 %	26 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 9
7 Aug	29.2 °C	44 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 10
8 Aug	29.5 °C	46 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 10
9 Aug	28.8 °C	53 %	19 km/h	0.2 mm	Low 10
10 Aug	30.2 °C	46 %	21 km/h	0.0 mm	Low 10
11 Aug	31.7 °C	39 %	21 km/h	0.2 mm	Moderate 13
12 Aug	31.5 °C	45 %	25 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 14
13 Aug	30.4 °C	51 %	22 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 13
14 Aug	31.6 °C	41 %	23 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 14
15 Aug	30.5 °C	46 %	22 km/h	0.6 mm	Moderate 12
16 Aug	31.1 °C	38 %	22 km/h	0.3 mm	Moderate 15
17 Aug	31.1 °C	44 %	25 km/h	0.3 mm	Moderate 16
18 Aug	31.1 °C	33 %	33 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 19
19 Aug	31.0 °C	37 %	42 km/h	0.0 mm	High 23
20 Aug	31.2 °C	35 %	31 km/h	0.3 mm	Moderate 20
21 Aug	30.5 °C	41 %	30 km/h	0.6 mm	Moderate 17
22 Aug	30.4 °C	46 %	28 km/h	0.2 mm	Moderate 17
23 Aug	32.4 °C	35 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
24 Aug	32.2 °C	38 %	28 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
25 Aug	29.9 °C	49 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 18
26 Aug	31.2 °C	41 %	27 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 20
27 Aug	32.2 °C	41 %	29 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 20
28 Aug	31.0 °C	42 %	28 km/h	0.1 mm	Moderate 20
29 Aug	32.5 °C	34 %	28 km/h	0.2 mm	High 23
30 Aug	32.9 °C	33 %	30 km/h	0.4 mm	High 25
31 Aug	32.3 °C	33 %	33 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
1 Sept	32.2 °C	33 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 25
2 Sept	32.5 °C	34 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
3 Sept	31.6 °C	41 %	32 km/h	0.4 mm	High 27
4 Sept	32.5 °C	39 %	34 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
5 Sept	31.2 °C	42 %	23 km/h	0.6 mm	Moderate 20
6 Sept	33.8 °C	32 %	35 km/h	0.0 mm	High 28
7 Sept	33.5 °C	33 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	High 27
8 Sept	33.2 °C	34 %	38 km/h	0.0 mm	High 30
9 Sept	33.8 °C	28 %	23 km/h	0.4 mm	High 28
10 Sept	32.3 °C	32 %	29 km/h	0.2 mm	High 30
11 Sept	32.8 °C	31 %	38 km/h	0.8 mm	High 29
12 Sept	33.4 °C	30 %	36 km/h	0.4 mm	High 31
13 Sept	33.0 °C	28 %	29 km/h	0.3 mm	High 30
14 Sept	32.8 °C	28 %	32 km/h	0.0 mm	High 32
15 Sept	32.6 °C	24 %	31 km/h	0.0 mm	High 33
16 Sept	33.5 °C	26 %	30 km/h	0.0 mm	High 34
17 Sept	31.8 °C	39 %	34 km/h	0.1 mm	High 31
18 Sept	33.7 °C	31 %	40 km/h	0.1 mm	High 34
19 Sept	34.3 °C	29 %	33 km/h	0.2 mm	High 33
20 Sept	33.1 °C	36 %	28 km/h	1.9 mm	Moderate 16
21 Sept	33.3 °C	35 %	35 km/h	0.8 mm	High 24
22 Sept	32.7 °C	44 %	28 km/h	3.4 mm	Low 7
23 Sept	32.2 °C	44 %	34 km/h	2.2 mm	Low 9
24 Sept	31.8 °C	45 %	27 km/h	0.7 mm	Moderate 15
25 Sept	33.5 °C	39 %	30 km/h	3.3 mm	Low 8
26 Sept	31.5 °C	48 %	23 km/h	2.6 mm	Very low 5
27 Sept	32.8 °C	40 %	29 km/h	0.9 mm	Moderate 13
28 Sept	33.0 °C	28 %	22 km/h	0.2 mm	High 22
29 Sept	33.2 °C	35 %	28 km/h	0.3 mm	High 24
30 Sept	33.8 °C	32 %	25 km/h	0.0 mm	High 24
1 Oct	30.5 °C	50 %	29 km/h	0.0 mm	Moderate 21
2 Oct	33.5 °C	36 %	24 km/h	0.7 mm	Moderate 20
3 Oct	32.8 °C	35 %	32 km/h	0.7 mm	High 23
4 Oct	33.5 °C	36 %	40 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26
5 Oct	32.8 °C	35 %	37 km/h	0.0 mm	High 26

Before and after, from space

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

↔

Before · 10 Jul 2026

After · 23 Oct 2026

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.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 30 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 42 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 34: 2.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak42 µg/m³

Days over the guideline19 days

PM1048 µg/m³

Optical depth0.96

WHO 15

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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 · 689Every 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 Indonesia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Luwu Timur fire last?: According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 17 July 2026 to 24 October 2026 (100 days). The perimeter dates it from 18 July 2026 to 23 October 2026.
How much area did it burn?: The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 2,277 hectares (22.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?: The fire only entered Luwu Timur (2,094 ha, 0.3 %).
Is the Luwu Timur fire still active?: Yes: satellites detected fire on 24 Oct 2026, 05:33 UTC. Check the emergency service for the official status.
What was the weather like?: During the fire the temperature reached 34.3 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 34, 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

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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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.