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Tiwi Islands fire, 8 July 2017 Tiwi Islands

Out · last detection 27 Aug 2017, 04:34 UTC

The fire started on 8 July 2017 in Tiwi Islands, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 51 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 17,419 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 754th largest in Northern Territory since 2016 (of 3518 with a page). Number 146 in Australia in 2017, of 862.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Tiwi Islands · 2026Tiwi Islands · 2020Tiwi Islands · 2017Tiwi Islands · 2016

Burnt area
17,419ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
51days
8 Jul 2017 – 27 Aug 2017
Municipalities hit
1
local government areas
Started on
8 Jul
2017
Heat detections
1,064
in a single hotspot: 107 MW
Danger at start
18
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
209MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Jul27 Aug
27 Aug 2017

How it evolved, day by day

8 Jul 2017 · 7 MW · 1 10 Jul 2017 · 776 MW · 41 11 Jul 2017 · 153 MW · 22 12 Jul 2017 · 1,141 MW · 92 13 Jul 2017 · 221 MW · 27 14 Jul 2017 · 1,263 MW · 64 15 Jul 2017 · 543 MW · 55 16 Jul 2017 · 339 MW · 37 17 Jul 2017 · 36 MW · 9 18 Jul 2017 · 79 MW · 26 19 Jul 2017 · 153 MW · 29 20 Jul 2017 · 163 MW · 32 21 Jul 2017 · 238 MW · 19 22 Jul 2017 · 22 MW · 12 23 Jul 2017 · 50 MW · 25 24 Jul 2017 · 68 MW · 19 25 Jul 2017 · 103 MW · 20 26 Jul 2017 · 130 MW · 14 27 Jul 2017 · 129 MW · 22 28 Jul 2017 · 51 MW · 12 29 Jul 2017 · 10 MW · 4 30 Jul 2017 · 45 MW · 11 31 Jul 2017 · 52 MW · 12 1 Aug 2017 · 25 MW · 4 3 Aug 2017 · 10 MW · 4 4 Aug 2017 · 24 MW · 5 6 Aug 2017 · 1 MW · 1 7 Aug 2017 · 45 MW · 14 8 Aug 2017 · 564 MW · 39 9 Aug 2017 · 591 MW · 40 10 Aug 2017 · 515 MW · 38 11 Aug 2017 · 36 MW · 7 12 Aug 2017 · 111 MW · 23 13 Aug 2017 · 541 MW · 56 14 Aug 2017 · 683 MW · 62 15 Aug 2017 · 145 MW · 32 16 Aug 2017 · 48 MW · 10 17 Aug 2017 · 30 MW · 10 18 Aug 2017 · 105 MW · 20 19 Aug 2017 · 170 MW · 31 20 Aug 2017 · 44 MW · 10 21 Aug 2017 · 133 MW · 12 22 Aug 2017 · 64 MW · 13 23 Aug 2017 · 20 MW · 2 24 Aug 2017 · 2 MW · 2 25 Aug 2017 · 94 MW · 10 26 Aug 2017 · 124 MW · 8 27 Aug 2017 · 125 MW · 6
8 Jul 14 Jul 16 Jul 23 Jul 30 Jul 8 Aug 15 Aug 22 Aug

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

The weather it burned in

31°high
45km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

12% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,158 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,012 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 11% of the area of London (174 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. Tiwi Islands where it started
    17,447 ha reached on 8 Jul
    2.3 %

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 2015
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2015, 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.

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) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
8 Jul 29.3 °C 62 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
9 Jul 29.0 °C 58 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
10 Jul 29.4 °C 53 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
11 Jul 29.3 °C 58 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
12 Jul 29.1 °C 54 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
13 Jul 29.4 °C 50 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
14 Jul 29.6 °C 39 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
15 Jul 29.7 °C 33 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
16 Jul 29.4 °C 39 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
17 Jul 29.6 °C 50 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
18 Jul 30.7 °C 44 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
19 Jul 31.0 °C 38 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
20 Jul 30.0 °C 36 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
21 Jul 29.7 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
22 Jul 29.7 °C 40 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
23 Jul 30.9 °C 34 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
24 Jul 30.1 °C 45 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
25 Jul 29.8 °C 51 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
26 Jul 30.0 °C 47 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
27 Jul 29.6 °C 37 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
28 Jul 29.1 °C 41 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
29 Jul 28.7 °C 48 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
30 Jul 28.5 °C 54 % 29 km/h 0.1 mm High 24
31 Jul 29.6 °C 51 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
1 Aug 29.5 °C 39 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
2 Aug 29.8 °C 48 % 23 km/h 0.3 mm High 24
3 Aug 29.2 °C 50 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
4 Aug 29.7 °C 37 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
5 Aug 29.5 °C 57 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
6 Aug 29.4 °C 59 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
7 Aug 30.1 °C 45 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
8 Aug 30.7 °C 33 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
9 Aug 30.4 °C 34 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
10 Aug 30.1 °C 48 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
11 Aug 29.3 °C 56 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
12 Aug 30.0 °C 40 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
13 Aug 30.0 °C 32 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
14 Aug 30.1 °C 29 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
15 Aug 30.2 °C 46 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
16 Aug 29.7 °C 57 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
17 Aug 29.7 °C 60 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
18 Aug 30.7 °C 45 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
19 Aug 31.3 °C 41 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
20 Aug 31.0 °C 42 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
21 Aug 31.0 °C 37 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
22 Aug 30.2 °C 50 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
23 Aug 29.3 °C 45 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
24 Aug 30.8 °C 38 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
25 Aug 30.9 °C 30 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
26 Aug 30.2 °C 26 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
27 Aug 30.1 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
28 Aug after 29.5 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Aug after 30.0 °C 30 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
30 Aug after 30.0 °C 24 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
31 Aug after 30.6 °C 32 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
1 Sept after 31.1 °C 40 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
2 Sept after 31.2 °C 47 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
3 Sept after 30.6 °C 52 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
4 Sept after 30.4 °C 51 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
5 Sept after 31.6 °C 33 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
6 Sept after 31.4 °C 33 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 1 Jul 2017
After · 3 Sept 2017

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 1,064Every 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 Australia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Tiwi Islands fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 8 July 2017 to 27 August 2017 (51 days). The perimeter dates it from 10 July 2017 to 22 August 2017.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 17,419 hectares (174.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Tiwi Islands (17,447 ha, 2.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.3 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 45 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 44, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Australia (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: 000 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 2 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 22 August 2017 → 27 August 2017.
  2. Start date: 10 July 2017 → 8 July 2017.

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 000.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 2 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 10 July 2017 to 22 August 2017. 1,064 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2015, 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 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)). 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.