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ID · Indonesia · –

Merauke fire, 27 August 2026 Merauke

Burning · last detection 4 Nov 2026, 16:30 UTC

The fire started on 27 August 2026 in Merauke, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 70 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 79,100 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.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

It is the 2th largest in Papua since 2016 (of 360 with a page). Number 12 in Indonesia in 2026, of 1031.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Merauke · 2026Merauke · 2026Merauke · 2026Merauke · 2026

Is it still active?

Satellites detected fire on 4 Nov 2026, 16:30 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
79,100ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
70days
27 Aug 2026 – 4 Nov 2026
Municipalities hit
1
regencies
Started on
27 Aug
2026
Heat detections
4,769
in a single hotspot: 433 MW
Average daily power
802MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 27 Aug4 Nov
4 Nov 2026

How it evolved, day by day

27 Aug 2026 · 14 MW · 3 28 Aug 2026 · 21 MW · 3 30 Aug 2026 · 2 MW · 4 2 Sept 2026 · 6 MW · 1 3 Sept 2026 · 16 MW · 8 4 Sept 2026 · 64 MW · 21 5 Sept 2026 · 146 MW · 9 6 Sept 2026 · 128 MW · 19 7 Sept 2026 · 119 MW · 20 8 Sept 2026 · 122 MW · 17 9 Sept 2026 · 912 MW · 49 10 Sept 2026 · 2,658 MW · 129 11 Sept 2026 · 961 MW · 73 12 Sept 2026 · 40 MW · 8 13 Sept 2026 · 100 MW · 31 14 Sept 2026 · 75 MW · 3 15 Sept 2026 · 264 MW · 52 17 Sept 2026 · 8 MW · 4 18 Sept 2026 · 10 MW · 8 19 Sept 2026 · 13 MW · 8 20 Sept 2026 · 43 MW · 20 21 Sept 2026 · 76 MW · 15 22 Sept 2026 · 3 MW · 1 23 Sept 2026 · 3 MW · 1 24 Sept 2026 · 75 MW · 28 25 Sept 2026 · 414 MW · 68 26 Sept 2026 · 283 MW · 63 27 Sept 2026 · 570 MW · 40 28 Sept 2026 · 2,646 MW · 102 29 Sept 2026 · 901 MW · 66 30 Sept 2026 · 2,605 MW · 181 1 Oct 2026 · 1,164 MW · 154 2 Oct 2026 · 709 MW · 61 3 Oct 2026 · 359 MW · 39 4 Oct 2026 · 612 MW · 35 5 Oct 2026 · 1,545 MW · 145 6 Oct 2026 · 2,109 MW · 298 7 Oct 2026 · 8,133 MW · 279 8 Oct 2026 · 3,110 MW · 258 9 Oct 2026 · 647 MW · 96 10 Oct 2026 · 2,820 MW · 179 11 Oct 2026 · 4,721 MW · 297 12 Oct 2026 · 313 MW · 49 13 Oct 2026 · 83 MW · 20 14 Oct 2026 · 236 MW · 27 15 Oct 2026 · 472 MW · 54 16 Oct 2026 · 1,333 MW · 150 17 Oct 2026 · 1,231 MW · 163 18 Oct 2026 · 995 MW · 112 19 Oct 2026 · 1,042 MW · 151 20 Oct 2026 · 236 MW · 64 21 Oct 2026 · 223 MW · 62 22 Oct 2026 · 186 MW · 50 23 Oct 2026 · 1,369 MW · 112 24 Oct 2026 · 725 MW · 86 25 Oct 2026 · 1,064 MW · 102 26 Oct 2026 · 823 MW · 92 27 Oct 2026 · 446 MW · 90 28 Oct 2026 · 547 MW · 55 29 Oct 2026 · 417 MW · 62 30 Oct 2026 · 264 MW · 86 31 Oct 2026 · 206 MW · 45 1 Nov 2026 · 446 MW · 76 2 Nov 2026 · 378 MW · 66 3 Nov 2026 · 455 MW · 70 4 Nov 2026 · 206 MW · 29
27 Aug 13 Sept 7 Oct 26 Oct

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

The weather it burned in

38°high
47km/h · peak gust
18%lowest humidity

It had gone 16 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

4% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,823 ha in 2018, 893 ha in 2019, 255 ha in 2022, 544 ha in 2023. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 3,324 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 50% of the area of London (791 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Merauke where it started
    78,456 ha reached on 27 Aug
    1.8 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

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) · forecast models, provisional until the ERA5 reanalysis arrives

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
27 Aug 34.1 °C 41 % 35 km/h 0.8 mm fwi. 0
28 Aug 34.3 °C 48 % 41 km/h 5.0 mm fwi. 0
29 Aug 31.1 °C 53 % 41 km/h 4.1 mm fwi. 0
30 Aug 31.7 °C 46 % 38 km/h 2.7 mm fwi. 0
31 Aug 30.7 °C 55 % 40 km/h 1.2 mm fwi. 0
1 Sept 31.8 °C 46 % 39 km/h 0.4 mm fwi. 0
2 Sept 31.4 °C 43 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm fwi. 0
3 Sept 33.2 °C 41 % 33 km/h 0.1 mm fwi. 0
4 Sept 34.1 °C 38 % 35 km/h 0.1 mm fwi. 0
5 Sept 33.7 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
6 Sept 34.2 °C 36 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
7 Sept 33.7 °C 38 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
8 Sept 34.7 °C 34 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
9 Sept 35.1 °C 33 % 26 km/h 0.1 mm fwi. 0
10 Sept 34.6 °C 28 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
11 Sept 33.3 °C 28 % 41 km/h 0.2 mm fwi. 0
12 Sept 33.8 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm fwi. 0
13 Sept 32.8 °C 36 % 33 km/h 0.1 mm fwi. 0
14 Sept 30.7 °C 50 % 41 km/h 0.1 mm fwi. 0
15 Sept 32.0 °C 43 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
16 Sept 32.3 °C 40 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
17 Sept 33.7 °C 35 % 40 km/h 0.3 mm fwi. 0
18 Sept 33.4 °C 42 % 47 km/h 1.6 mm fwi. 0
19 Sept 31.9 °C 47 % 47 km/h 0.2 mm fwi. 0
20 Sept 31.6 °C 45 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
21 Sept 33.2 °C 40 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
22 Sept 33.2 °C 41 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
23 Sept 32.9 °C 42 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
24 Sept 35.2 °C 35 % 39 km/h 0.1 mm fwi. 0
25 Sept 35.0 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.2 mm fwi. 0
26 Sept 35.2 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
27 Sept 35.8 °C 32 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
28 Sept 34.8 °C 32 % 45 km/h 0.1 mm fwi. 0
29 Sept 35.7 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
30 Sept 35.9 °C 31 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm fwi. 0
1 Oct 34.9 °C 38 % 42 km/h 1.0 mm fwi. 0
2 Oct 35.4 °C 30 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
3 Oct 33.5 °C 36 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
4 Oct 35.1 °C 32 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
5 Oct 36.4 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
6 Oct 36.6 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
7 Oct 37.7 °C 24 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
8 Oct 37.3 °C 18 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
9 Oct 36.0 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.1 mm fwi. 0
10 Oct 37.5 °C 19 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
11 Oct 37.5 °C 19 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
12 Oct 37.0 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
13 Oct 37.0 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
14 Oct 35.9 °C 35 % 33 km/h 1.1 mm fwi. 0
15 Oct 36.1 °C 34 % 28 km/h 1.9 mm fwi. 0
16 Oct 37.3 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
17 Oct 37.1 °C 24 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
18 Oct 37.0 °C 26 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
19 Oct 36.3 °C 28 % 31 km/h 0.3 mm fwi. 0
20 Oct 37.4 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
21 Oct 37.7 °C 27 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm fwi. 0
22 Oct 36.8 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.2 mm fwi. 0
23 Oct 37.0 °C 42 % 26 km/h 1.4 mm fwi. 0
24 Oct 37.1 °C 34 % 33 km/h 0.3 mm fwi. 0
25 Oct 37.1 °C 38 % 37 km/h 0.3 mm fwi. 0
26 Oct 37.6 °C 33 % 31 km/h 1.5 mm fwi. 0
27 Oct 36.3 °C 36 % 33 km/h 1.1 mm fwi. 0
28 Oct 36.4 °C 36 % 26 km/h 0.9 mm fwi. 0
29 Oct 36.5 °C 41 % 28 km/h 1.9 mm fwi. 0
30 Oct 37.3 °C 34 % 29 km/h 4.4 mm fwi. 0
31 Oct 37.3 °C 33 % 28 km/h 0.5 mm fwi. 0
1 Nov 36.0 °C 36 % 35 km/h 2.9 mm fwi. 0
2 Nov 35.3 °C 42 % 31 km/h 2.4 mm fwi. 0
3 Nov 34.7 °C 49 % 20 km/h 2.5 mm fwi. 0
4 Nov 36.8 °C 32 % 24 km/h 0.1 mm fwi. 0

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 20 Aug 2026
After · 4 Nov 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 8 October 2026 the air beside the fire reached 1,460 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 405: 27 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak1,460 µg/m³
Days over the guideline54 days
PM101,475 µg/m³
Optical depth4.50
25 Aug7 Sept20 Sept3 Oct16 Oct
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 · 4,769Every 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 timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Indonesia

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Merauke fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 27 August 2026 to 4 November 2026 (70 days). The perimeter dates it from 2 September 2026 to 3 November 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 79,100 hectares (791.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Merauke (78,456 ha, 1.8 %).
Is the Merauke fire still active?
Yes: satellites detected fire on 4 Nov 2026, 16:30 UTC. Check the emergency service for the official status.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 37.7 °C, humidity dropped to 18 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 0, class Very low.
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 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Area: 75,835 → 77,741 ha.

RSS Changes to this page

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.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 9 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 2 September 2026 to 3 November 2026. 4,769 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: ECMWF IFS model, provisional until the ERA5 reanalysis arrives. No FWI: there are fewer than 30 days of data before the start.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

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.