Waroona fire, March 2017 Boddington, Waroona, Harvey
The fire started on 30 March 2017 in Waroona, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 5,839 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 2204th largest in Western Australia since 2016 (of 2718 with a page). Number 697 in Australia in 2017, of 862.
- Burnt area
- 5,839ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 30 Mar 2017 – 2 Apr 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- local government areas
- Started on
- 30 Mar
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 597
- in a single hotspot: 69 MW
- Danger at start
- 13
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.2GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 7 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
37% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,269 ha in 2016.
What happened to each town
-
3,518 ha reached on 30 Mar1.8 %
-
Waroona where it started2,284 ha reached on 30 Mar2.7 %
-
57 ha0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Mar | 24.4 °C | 33 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 13 |
| 31 Mar | 25.3 °C | 33 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 1 Apr | 26.5 °C | 33 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 2 Apr | 28.0 °C | 27 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 3 Apr after | 27.6 °C | 34 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 19 |
| 4 Apr after | 26.1 °C | 40 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 5 Apr after | 27.8 °C | 33 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 6 Apr after | 23.0 °C | 48 % | 47 km/h | 0.5 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 7 Apr after | 18.4 °C | 42 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 8 Apr after | 20.8 °C | 46 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 9 Apr after | 23.3 °C | 39 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 10 Apr after | 25.9 °C | 28 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 11 Apr after | 26.1 °C | 27 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 12 Apr after | 22.3 °C | 50 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · 597Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 9,279 haBoddingtonMay 2018 · 5 days · 7 km away
- 8,028 haHarveyApril 2026 · 5 days · 20 km away
- 49,556 haBoddingtonJanuary 2016 · 10 days · 22 km away
- 11,153 haCollieOctober 2016 · 6 days · 23 km away
- 8,491 haBoddingtonSeptember 2024 · 7 days · 23 km away
- 14,142 haCollieDecember 2019 · 5 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Waroona fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 30 March 2017 and 2 April 2017: 4 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 5,839 hectares (58.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Boddington (3,518 ha, 1.8 %); Waroona (2,284 ha, 2.7 %); Harvey (57 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.0 °C, humidity dropped to 27 % and gusts hit 41 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 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
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
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.