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Ngawi fire, August 2018 Ngawi, Magetan, Karanganyar

Out · last measured on 26 Aug 2018

The fire started on 19 August 2018 in Ngawi, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 1,627 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 32th largest in East Java since 2016 (of 37 with a page). Number 94 in Indonesia in 2018, of 110.

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
1,627ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
8days
19 Aug 2018 – 26 Aug 2018
Municipalities hit
3
regencies
Started on
19 Aug
2018
Danger at start
19
Moderate · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

18°high
33km/h · peak gust
33%lowest humidity

It had gone 53 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. Ngawi where it started
    1,239 ha
    0.9 %
  2. Magetan
    254 ha
    0.4 %
  3. Karanganyar
    144 ha
    0.2 %

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 Aug 17.3 °C 35 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
20 Aug 18.2 °C 35 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
21 Aug 16.7 °C 47 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
22 Aug 17.4 °C 38 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
23 Aug 17.9 °C 36 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
24 Aug 17.3 °C 37 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
25 Aug 17.5 °C 33 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
26 Aug 17.6 °C 37 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
27 Aug after 17.4 °C 43 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
28 Aug after 17.2 °C 47 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
29 Aug after 17.0 °C 44 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
30 Aug after 17.1 °C 42 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
31 Aug after 16.8 °C 48 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
1 Sept after 17.1 °C 51 % 35 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 20
2 Sept after 17.5 °C 44 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
3 Sept after 16.7 °C 42 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
4 Sept after 16.8 °C 37 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
5 Sept after 17.2 °C 40 % 31 km/h 0.1 mm High 21

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 12 Aug 2018
After · 2 Sept 2018

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 Ngawi fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 19 August 2018 and 26 August 2018: 8 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 1,627 hectares (16.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Ngawi (1,239 ha, 0.9 %); Magetan (254 ha, 0.4 %); Karanganyar (144 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 18.2 °C, humidity dropped to 33 % and gusts hit 33 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 22, 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.