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Victoria Daly fire, 24 July 2016 Victoria Daly, Unincorporated NT

Out · last detection 3 Aug 2016, 15:35 UTC

The fire started on 24 July 2016 in Victoria Daly, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 12 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,195 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 2154th largest in Northern Territory since 2016 (of 2853 with a page). Number 317 in Australia in 2016, of 427.

The power measured by the satellite is low (18.7 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
6,195ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
12days
24 Jul 2016 – 4 Aug 2016
Municipalities hit
2
local government areas
Started on
24 Jul
2016
Heat detections
157
in a single hotspot: 19 MW
Danger at start
32
High · FWI index
Average daily power
51MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 24 Jul4 Aug
3 Aug 2016

How it evolved, day by day

24 Jul 2016 · 87 MW · 9 25 Jul 2016 · 60 MW · 15 26 Jul 2016 · 11 MW · 3 27 Jul 2016 · 29 MW · 8 28 Jul 2016 · 20 MW · 4 29 Jul 2016 · 61 MW · 18 30 Jul 2016 · 25 MW · 16 31 Jul 2016 · 101 MW · 34 1 Aug 2016 · 99 MW · 27 2 Aug 2016 · 62 MW · 21 3 Aug 2016 · 2 MW · 2
24 Jul 27 Jul 31 Jul

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

The weather it burned in

33°high
48km/h · peak gust
13%lowest humidity

It had gone 10 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.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 3.9% of the area of London (62 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. Victoria Daly where it started
    6,046 ha reached on 24 Jul
    0.0 %
  2. 118 ha reached on 2 Aug
    0.0 %

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 area0.56 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there were about 0.56 hectares of 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)
24 Jul 32.7 °C 33 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
25 Jul 32.0 °C 27 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
26 Jul 31.2 °C 26 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
27 Jul 30.8 °C 17 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
28 Jul 29.5 °C 18 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
29 Jul 30.7 °C 19 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
30 Jul 30.7 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
31 Jul 31.7 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
1 Aug 31.6 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
2 Aug 32.7 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
3 Aug 27.9 °C 19 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
4 Aug 26.6 °C 13 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
5 Aug after 27.2 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
6 Aug after 28.8 °C 12 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
7 Aug after 30.4 °C 18 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
8 Aug after 29.9 °C 20 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
9 Aug after 31.9 °C 23 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
10 Aug after 32.1 °C 23 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
11 Aug after 33.1 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
12 Aug after 32.9 °C 19 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
13 Aug after 33.1 °C 17 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
14 Aug after 32.2 °C 18 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52

Its twins: fires that started in the same weather

It started with an FWI of 32.2, a minimum humidity of 33% and 10 days without rain. Fires in the area that started in weather like this since 2016: 17.

FWI at the start 32.2
Minimum humidity 33 %
Days without rain 10
this fire chosen twins rest of the area
Almost identicalSimilar

Outlines of the closest twins

Victoria Daly fire, May 2022
5,402 ha 6 days FWI 32.8 Min. humidity 33 % 32 km away, in 2022

First rain (1 mm or more) after it ended: 1.4 mm on 5 Jun.

What happened to them

13 days
median duration
7,309 ha
median area
29 %
went past 10,000 ha
1.4 mm
rain at the end (median; 3 of 17 had it)

It burned an area similar to its twins (6,195 ha against a median of 7,309 ha) and lasted 12 days, against 13 days.

In 14 of 17, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.4 mm.

This is a bank of analogues: it shows what usually happens, not what will happen. With fewer than 15 twins we give no figures. How we calculate it

How it ended

—first rain
—no rain in ten days
48km/h · max. gust

It was considered over on 4 Aug, and not even 1 mm fell in the following ten days: it went out without rain. Twins with rain when they ended: 3 of 17, with a median of 1.4 mm.

Weather on this page: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

How a twin is chosen

  • Same area: fires that have already ended, less than 250 km from this one, since 2016.
  • Same start: we compare the FWI on the first day, the minimum humidity that day and the run of days without rain before it. The slider sets how much they may differ.
  • Only pages with final weather data (ERA5 reanalysis) calculated in the same way as this fire’s; agricultural and grass burns and pages with data under review are left out.
  • Fires burning at the same time as this one (a week before or after) are left out: they share the same spell of weather and do not count as a precedent.
  • They are sorted by similarity, and the outlines of the first five are drawn.

How we calculate it

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 17 Jul 2016
After · 11 Aug 2016

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 · 157Every 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 Victoria Daly fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 24 July 2016 to 4 August 2016 (12 days). The perimeter dates it from 24 July 2016 to 2 August 2016.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 6,195 hectares (62.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Victoria Daly (6,046 ha, 0.0 %); Unincorporated NT (118 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.7 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, 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.
How did the fires that started in similar weather in this area end?
Fires less than 250 km away that started since 2016 with a similar FWI, humidity and dry spell: 17. Their median duration was 13 days and their median area 7,309 ha; 29 % went past 10,000 ha. In 14 of 17, not even 1 mm fell in the ten days after the end: they went out without rain. In the rest, the first rainy day brought a median of 1.4 mm.

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 · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Last day with fire: 2 August 2016 → 4 August 2016.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

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.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 24 July 2016 to 2 August 2016. 157 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.