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Seruyan fire, July 2019 Seruyan

Out · last measured on 18 Aug 2019

The fire started on 22 July 2019 in Seruyan, Indonesia, and satellites saw it burning for 28 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,159 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

It is the 198th largest in Central Kalimantan since 2016 (of 310 with a page). Number 265 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
2,159ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
28days
22 Jul 2019 – 18 Aug 2019
Municipalities hit
1
regencies
Started on
22 Jul
2019
Danger at start
7
Low · FWI index

Where it burned

The weather it burned in

30°high
49km/h · peak gust
63%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.5 mm on 19 Aug.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Seruyan where it started
    2,176 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)
22 Jul 29.2 °C 68 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
23 Jul 28.6 °C 66 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
24 Jul 28.1 °C 69 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
25 Jul 28.4 °C 67 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
26 Jul 29.8 °C 64 % 34 km/h 0.1 mm Low 10
27 Jul 28.7 °C 71 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
28 Jul 29.7 °C 64 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
29 Jul 28.8 °C 66 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
30 Jul 28.8 °C 65 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
31 Jul 28.7 °C 65 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
1 Aug 29.0 °C 66 % 42 km/h 0.4 mm Moderate 14
2 Aug 28.5 °C 69 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
3 Aug 28.6 °C 66 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
4 Aug 28.1 °C 64 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
5 Aug 28.5 °C 63 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
6 Aug 28.1 °C 65 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
7 Aug 27.9 °C 69 % 36 km/h 0.6 mm Moderate 12
8 Aug 28.3 °C 68 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
9 Aug 28.6 °C 67 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
10 Aug 28.6 °C 71 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
11 Aug 29.0 °C 68 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 13
12 Aug 29.0 °C 71 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
13 Aug 29.6 °C 71 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
14 Aug 29.1 °C 72 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
15 Aug 29.7 °C 71 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
16 Aug 29.0 °C 65 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
17 Aug 28.9 °C 65 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
18 Aug 28.8 °C 66 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
19 Aug after 29.0 °C 70 % 41 km/h 1.5 mm Low 9

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 15 Jul 2019
After · 25 Aug 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 Seruyan fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 22 July 2019 and 18 August 2019: 28 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 2,159 hectares (21.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Seruyan (2,176 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 29.8 °C, humidity dropped to 63 % and gusts hit 49 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 18, 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.