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AU · Australia · –

Victoria Daly fire, 3 August 2019 Victoria Daly

Out · last detection 6 Sept 2019, 04:58 UTC

The fire started on 3 August 2019 in Victoria Daly, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 35 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 42,146 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.

This entry is probably a savanna fire in Australia’s tropical north, not a bushfire like those in the south of the country. Millions of hectares of northern savanna and grassland burn every year: much of it in burns lit on purpose early in the dry season (traditional fire management, parks and cattle stations), the rest in grass fires that return to the same ground every few years. This is our assumption, based on the location; it is not confirmed. That is why it is left out of the wildfire rankings.

Burnt area
42,146ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
35days
3 Aug 2019 – 6 Sept 2019
Municipalities hit
1
local government areas
Started on
3 Aug
2019
Heat detections
1,669
in a single hotspot: 92 MW
Danger at start
70
Very extreme · FWI index
Average daily power
230MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 3 Aug6 Sept
6 Sept 2019

How it evolved, day by day

3 Aug 2019 · 3 MW · 3 4 Aug 2019 · 497 MW · 68 5 Aug 2019 · 110 MW · 44 6 Aug 2019 · 310 MW · 49 7 Aug 2019 · 94 MW · 17 8 Aug 2019 · 75 MW · 15 9 Aug 2019 · 59 MW · 21 10 Aug 2019 · 80 MW · 27 11 Aug 2019 · 177 MW · 56 12 Aug 2019 · 227 MW · 105 13 Aug 2019 · 250 MW · 77 14 Aug 2019 · 269 MW · 79 15 Aug 2019 · 161 MW · 40 16 Aug 2019 · 233 MW · 25 17 Aug 2019 · 134 MW · 34 18 Aug 2019 · 964 MW · 114 19 Aug 2019 · 582 MW · 99 20 Aug 2019 · 416 MW · 115 21 Aug 2019 · 350 MW · 103 22 Aug 2019 · 447 MW · 85 23 Aug 2019 · 166 MW · 51 24 Aug 2019 · 1,553 MW · 214 25 Aug 2019 · 163 MW · 61 26 Aug 2019 · 320 MW · 41 27 Aug 2019 · 129 MW · 42 28 Aug 2019 · 49 MW · 18 29 Aug 2019 · 12 MW · 5 30 Aug 2019 · 26 MW · 14 31 Aug 2019 · 30 MW · 10 1 Sept 2019 · 77 MW · 10 2 Sept 2019 · 27 MW · 13 3 Sept 2019 · 9 MW · 4 4 Sept 2019 · 16 MW · 5 5 Sept 2019 · 14 MW · 4 6 Sept 2019 · 8 MW · 1
3 Aug 10 Aug 17 Aug 24 Aug 31 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

36°high
51km/h · peak gust
5%lowest humidity

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

This area had burned before

31% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,052 ha in 2016, 12,046 ha in 2017, 450 ha in 2018.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 27% of the area of London (421 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
    42,384 ha reached on 3 Aug
    0.3 %

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 2020
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, 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)

Started with 60 days without rain: 8.2 % of the area in Australia

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
3 Aug 29.6 °C 17 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 70
4 Aug 30.7 °C 21 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 72
5 Aug 32.0 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
6 Aug 32.4 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
7 Aug 33.3 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
8 Aug 33.9 °C 23 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
9 Aug 33.8 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
10 Aug 33.2 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
11 Aug 31.0 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 80
12 Aug 28.7 °C 7 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 78
13 Aug 27.8 °C 9 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 74
14 Aug 29.5 °C 7 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 74
15 Aug 31.4 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
16 Aug 32.8 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
17 Aug 35.2 °C 20 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
18 Aug 35.9 °C 13 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
19 Aug 33.6 °C 15 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 77
20 Aug 28.2 °C 13 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 79
21 Aug 28.9 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 79
22 Aug 31.1 °C 9 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 77
23 Aug 32.4 °C 14 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
24 Aug 33.7 °C 10 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
25 Aug 33.1 °C 17 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
26 Aug 33.0 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
27 Aug 32.9 °C 8 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 88
28 Aug 33.7 °C 7 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 98
29 Aug 29.3 °C 5 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 89
30 Aug 30.8 °C 5 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 83
31 Aug 32.7 °C 6 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 76
1 Sept 33.7 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 70
2 Sept 34.4 °C 13 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
3 Sept 35.0 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 74
4 Sept 35.0 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
5 Sept 34.7 °C 24 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
6 Sept 35.7 °C 16 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
7 Sept after 35.8 °C 14 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
8 Sept after 36.3 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
9 Sept after 34.6 °C 3 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 100
10 Sept after 32.1 °C 5 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 104
11 Sept after 32.5 °C 3 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 98
12 Sept after 32.7 °C 10 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 95
13 Sept after 33.5 °C 12 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 94
14 Sept after 34.3 °C 13 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 93
15 Sept after 34.3 °C 14 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 88
16 Sept after 34.4 °C 13 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 75

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 27 Jul 2019
After · 13 Sept 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.

Detections table · 1,669Every 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?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 August 2019 and 6 September 2019: 35 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 42,146 hectares (421.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire only entered Victoria Daly (42,384 ha, 0.3 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.9 °C, humidity dropped to 5 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 98, class Very extreme.
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 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

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 from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 1,669 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 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.
  • Probably a vegetation burn: not counted in the totals.

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.