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West Arnhem fire, 15 August 2026 West Arnhem, Unincorporated NT

Out · last detection 16 Oct 2026, 16:43 UTC

The fire started on 15 August 2026 in West Arnhem, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 62 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 72,354 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

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 102th largest in Northern Territory since 2016 (of 3518 with a page). Number 18 in Australia in 2026, of 908.

Compare with…

Suggestions: West Arnhem · 2024West Arnhem · 2017West Arnhem · 2019West Arnhem · 2019

Burnt area
72,354ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
62days
15 Aug 2026 – 15 Oct 2026
Municipalities hit
2
local government areas
Started on
15 Aug
2026
Heat detections
1,802
in a single hotspot: 348 MW
Danger at start
10
Low · FWI index
Average daily power
340MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 15 Aug15 Oct
16 Oct 2026

How it evolved, day by day

15 Aug 2026 · 18 MW · 4 19 Aug 2026 · 9 MW · 1 20 Aug 2026 · 139 MW · 15 21 Aug 2026 · 87 MW · 18 22 Aug 2026 · 53 MW · 12 23 Aug 2026 · 195 MW · 32 24 Aug 2026 · 301 MW · 32 25 Aug 2026 · 316 MW · 18 26 Aug 2026 · 303 MW · 21 27 Aug 2026 · 72 MW · 18 28 Aug 2026 · 327 MW · 60 29 Aug 2026 · 827 MW · 77 30 Aug 2026 · 751 MW · 73 31 Aug 2026 · 1,849 MW · 49 1 Sept 2026 · 101 MW · 18 2 Sept 2026 · 75 MW · 17 3 Sept 2026 · 11 MW · 7 4 Sept 2026 · 182 MW · 14 5 Sept 2026 · 99 MW · 6 7 Sept 2026 · 3 MW · 2 8 Sept 2026 · 195 MW · 40 9 Sept 2026 · 292 MW · 34 10 Sept 2026 · 154 MW · 22 11 Sept 2026 · 33 MW · 5 12 Sept 2026 · 62 MW · 12 13 Sept 2026 · 115 MW · 19 14 Sept 2026 · 1,195 MW · 70 15 Sept 2026 · 503 MW · 126 16 Sept 2026 · 3,641 MW · 150 17 Sept 2026 · 1,264 MW · 204 18 Sept 2026 · 2,315 MW · 240 19 Sept 2026 · 328 MW · 40 20 Sept 2026 · 552 MW · 40 21 Sept 2026 · 76 MW · 8 22 Sept 2026 · 573 MW · 21 23 Sept 2026 · 88 MW · 15 24 Sept 2026 · 49 MW · 10 25 Sept 2026 · 309 MW · 10 26 Sept 2026 · 161 MW · 16 27 Sept 2026 · 76 MW · 10 28 Sept 2026 · 182 MW · 27 29 Sept 2026 · 59 MW · 13 30 Sept 2026 · 62 MW · 17 1 Oct 2026 · 184 MW · 22 2 Oct 2026 · 165 MW · 11 3 Oct 2026 · 1 MW · 1 4 Oct 2026 · 354 MW · 38 5 Oct 2026 · 151 MW · 14 6 Oct 2026 · 124 MW · 10 7 Oct 2026 · 112 MW · 18 8 Oct 2026 · 63 MW · 11 9 Oct 2026 · 2 MW · 1 10 Oct 2026 · 0 MW · 0 11 Oct 2026 · 104 MW · 14 12 Oct 2026 · 19 MW · 3 14 Oct 2026 · 39 MW · 4 15 Oct 2026 · 20 MW · 8 16 Oct 2026 · 38 MW · 4
15 Aug 27 Aug 5 Sept 15 Sept 16 Sept 24 Sept 3 Oct 12 Oct

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

The weather it burned in

37°high
48km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

93% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 6,749 ha in 2016, 25,831 ha in 2017, 19,081 ha in 2018, 44,480 ha in 2019, 8,235 ha in 2020, 7,982 ha in 2021, 18,940 ha in 2022, 13,804 ha in 2023, 39,348 ha in 2024, 18,497 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 67,626 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 46% of the area of London (724 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. West Arnhem where it started
    70,831 ha reached on 15 Aug
    1.4 %
  2. Unincorporated NT
    1,548 ha reached on 16 Sept
    0.1 %

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 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, 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. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

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)
9 Jul 34.0 °C 24 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
10 Jul 33.5 °C 25 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
11 Jul 33.5 °C 21 % 14 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
12 Jul 33.0 °C 22 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
13 Jul 33.3 °C 26 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
14 Jul 33.0 °C 26 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 21
15 Jul 32.3 °C 27 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
16 Jul 32.3 °C 27 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
17 Jul 31.2 °C 19 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
18 Jul 30.5 °C 15 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
19 Jul 30.4 °C 16 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
20 Jul 30.9 °C 19 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
21 Jul 32.2 °C 20 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
22 Jul 32.0 °C 16 % 13 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
23 Jul 32.5 °C 22 % 15 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
24 Jul 33.0 °C 23 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Jul 32.0 °C 20 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Jul 30.6 °C 29 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Jul 31.2 °C 20 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Jul 30.1 °C 19 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
29 Jul 30.7 °C 24 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
30 Jul 32.3 °C 31 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
31 Jul 33.3 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
1 Aug 32.5 °C 24 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
2 Aug 32.2 °C 24 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
3 Aug 32.6 °C 34 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
4 Aug 33.5 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
5 Aug 32.8 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
6 Aug 32.9 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
7 Aug 32.9 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
8 Aug 33.0 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
9 Aug 32.7 °C 36 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
10 Aug 33.3 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
11 Aug 32.6 °C 40 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
12 Aug 33.5 °C 39 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
13 Aug 33.6 °C 37 % 23 km/h 0.4 mm High 32
14 Aug 35.2 °C 24 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
15 Aug 33.8 °C 30 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
16 Aug 33.8 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
17 Aug 33.3 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
18 Aug 33.2 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
19 Aug 33.6 °C 25 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
20 Aug 33.8 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
21 Aug 34.3 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
22 Aug 33.8 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
23 Aug 33.5 °C 25 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
24 Aug 34.2 °C 27 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
25 Aug 33.7 °C 33 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
26 Aug 34.5 °C 27 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
27 Aug 35.5 °C 25 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
28 Aug 35.5 °C 24 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
29 Aug 35.4 °C 18 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
30 Aug 35.0 °C 22 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
31 Aug 34.3 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
1 Sept 34.3 °C 21 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 Sept 33.0 °C 30 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
3 Sept 34.0 °C 29 % 27 km/h 0.4 mm Very high 42
4 Sept 34.7 °C 33 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
5 Sept 35.2 °C 34 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
6 Sept 35.9 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
7 Sept 35.9 °C 27 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
8 Sept 36.7 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
9 Sept 35.5 °C 27 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
10 Sept 35.5 °C 28 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
11 Sept 36.0 °C 24 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
12 Sept 35.2 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
13 Sept 36.2 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
14 Sept 36.2 °C 22 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
15 Sept 35.4 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
16 Sept 34.7 °C 25 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
17 Sept 35.7 °C 19 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
18 Sept 35.3 °C 20 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
19 Sept 34.5 °C 28 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
20 Sept 34.3 °C 28 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
21 Sept 35.6 °C 26 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
22 Sept 35.7 °C 23 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
23 Sept 35.8 °C 26 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
24 Sept 35.5 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
25 Sept 35.8 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
26 Sept 34.5 °C 27 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
27 Sept 35.7 °C 25 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
28 Sept 36.3 °C 21 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
29 Sept 35.9 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
30 Sept 35.2 °C 29 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Oct 35.7 °C 28 % 40 km/h 0.9 mm Very high 43
2 Oct 36.0 °C 27 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
3 Oct 35.9 °C 25 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
4 Oct 35.3 °C 25 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 8 Aug 2026
After · 22 Oct 2026

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

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 17 September 2026 the air beside the fire reached 84 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 45: 3.0 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak84 µg/m³
Days over the guideline8 days
PM1086 µg/m³
Optical depth0.75
131415161718192021222324252627282930311234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829301234
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 1,802Every 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 West Arnhem fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 15 August 2026 to 15 October 2026 (62 days). The perimeter dates it from 17 August 2026 to 15 October 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 72,354 hectares (723.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: West Arnhem (70,831 ha, 1.4 %); Unincorporated NT (1,548 ha, 0.1 %).
Is the West Arnhem fire still active?
No fire detections since 16 Oct 2026, 16:43 UTC. A lack of detections is not an official extinction.
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.7 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 48 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 57, class 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.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

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; 4 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 17 August 2026 to 15 October 2026. 1,802 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 2025, 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.