Skip to content
worldfires
ID · Indonesia · →

Malang fire, 19 October 2019 Malang, Kota Batu, Pasuruan

Out · last measured on 25 Oct 2019

The fire started on 19 October 2019 in Malang, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,130 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 20th largest in East Java since 2016 (of 38 with a page). Number 153 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
3,130ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
19 Oct 2019 – 25 Oct 2019
Municipalities hit
3
regencies
Started on
19 Oct
2019
Danger at start
13
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

25°high
54km/h · peak gust
23%lowest humidity

It had gone 3 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 30 Oct.

This area had burned before

5% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 149 ha in 2018.

What happened to each town

  1. Malang where it started
    1,670 ha
    0.5 %
  2. Kota Batu
    1,459 ha
    7.4 %
  3. Pasuruan
    20 ha
    0.0 %

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)
19 Oct 24.2 °C 40 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
20 Oct 24.8 °C 23 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
21 Oct 25.4 °C 26 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
22 Oct 25.1 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
23 Oct 25.1 °C 32 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
24 Oct 24.5 °C 32 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
25 Oct 24.2 °C 33 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
26 Oct after 23.2 °C 41 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
27 Oct after 22.5 °C 45 % 22 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 11
28 Oct after 24.5 °C 35 % 24 km/h 0.3 mm Moderate 14
29 Oct after 22.3 °C 44 % 24 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 15
30 Oct after 21.8 °C 49 % 22 km/h 1.2 mm Low 6

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Oct 2019
After · 1 Nov 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 Malang fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 October 2019 and 25 October 2019: 7 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 3,130 hectares (31.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Malang (1,670 ha, 0.5 %); Kota Batu (1,459 ha, 7.4 %); Pasuruan (20 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 25.4 °C, humidity dropped to 23 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 20, class Moderate.
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.