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West Daly fire, 5 May 2019 West Daly, Victoria Daly

Out · last detection 26 Aug 2019, 05:04 UTC

The fire started on 5 May 2019 in West Daly, Australia, and satellites saw it burning for 113 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 408,300 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 3th largest in Northern Territory since 2016 (of 3508 with a page). Number 4 in Australia in 2019, of 802.

Compare with…

Suggestions: Victoria Daly · 2018West Daly · 2017Victoria Daly · 2016Victoria Daly · 2018

Burnt area
408,300ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
113days
5 May 2019 – 25 Aug 2019
Municipalities hit
2
local government areas
Started on
5 May
2019
Heat detections
21,389
in a single hotspot: 302 MW
Danger at start
37
High · FWI index
Average daily power
1.2GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 5 May25 Aug
26 Aug 2019

How it evolved, day by day

5 May 2019 · 62 MW · 14 6 May 2019 · 55 MW · 7 7 May 2019 · 5 MW · 2 8 May 2019 · 59 MW · 12 9 May 2019 · 213 MW · 28 11 May 2019 · 276 MW · 82 12 May 2019 · 660 MW · 142 13 May 2019 · 660 MW · 87 14 May 2019 · 143 MW · 41 15 May 2019 · 2,300 MW · 140 16 May 2019 · 474 MW · 73 17 May 2019 · 352 MW · 51 18 May 2019 · 220 MW · 30 19 May 2019 · 87 MW · 39 20 May 2019 · 421 MW · 60 21 May 2019 · 1,216 MW · 141 22 May 2019 · 1,844 MW · 231 23 May 2019 · 1,654 MW · 224 24 May 2019 · 1,303 MW · 146 25 May 2019 · 893 MW · 104 26 May 2019 · 526 MW · 144 27 May 2019 · 1,892 MW · 206 28 May 2019 · 1,541 MW · 257 29 May 2019 · 2,176 MW · 324 30 May 2019 · 345 MW · 148 31 May 2019 · 1,853 MW · 402 1 Jun 2019 · 2,403 MW · 534 2 Jun 2019 · 3,090 MW · 345 3 Jun 2019 · 2,158 MW · 337 4 Jun 2019 · 352 MW · 64 5 Jun 2019 · 882 MW · 134 6 Jun 2019 · 2,139 MW · 475 7 Jun 2019 · 2,016 MW · 424 8 Jun 2019 · 1,458 MW · 298 9 Jun 2019 · 1,208 MW · 189 10 Jun 2019 · 728 MW · 157 11 Jun 2019 · 764 MW · 169 12 Jun 2019 · 1,151 MW · 185 13 Jun 2019 · 834 MW · 148 14 Jun 2019 · 587 MW · 114 15 Jun 2019 · 561 MW · 123 16 Jun 2019 · 1,109 MW · 126 17 Jun 2019 · 1,192 MW · 162 18 Jun 2019 · 1,124 MW · 179 19 Jun 2019 · 2,120 MW · 277 20 Jun 2019 · 1,726 MW · 168 21 Jun 2019 · 1,137 MW · 197 22 Jun 2019 · 1,410 MW · 214 23 Jun 2019 · 1,373 MW · 254 24 Jun 2019 · 1,510 MW · 308 25 Jun 2019 · 2,257 MW · 419 26 Jun 2019 · 2,112 MW · 406 27 Jun 2019 · 2,758 MW · 395 28 Jun 2019 · 1,662 MW · 241 29 Jun 2019 · 2,352 MW · 342 30 Jun 2019 · 3,390 MW · 196 1 Jul 2019 · 379 MW · 105 2 Jul 2019 · 775 MW · 152 3 Jul 2019 · 1,372 MW · 185 4 Jul 2019 · 813 MW · 150 5 Jul 2019 · 677 MW · 143 6 Jul 2019 · 507 MW · 114 7 Jul 2019 · 855 MW · 136 8 Jul 2019 · 557 MW · 134 9 Jul 2019 · 658 MW · 145 10 Jul 2019 · 797 MW · 183 11 Jul 2019 · 547 MW · 122 12 Jul 2019 · 692 MW · 99 13 Jul 2019 · 2,189 MW · 334 14 Jul 2019 · 1,485 MW · 229 15 Jul 2019 · 1,981 MW · 367 16 Jul 2019 · 4,617 MW · 754 17 Jul 2019 · 2,451 MW · 410 18 Jul 2019 · 1,295 MW · 309 19 Jul 2019 · 1,845 MW · 322 20 Jul 2019 · 3,991 MW · 301 21 Jul 2019 · 1,633 MW · 256 22 Jul 2019 · 1,885 MW · 172 23 Jul 2019 · 3,875 MW · 319 24 Jul 2019 · 4,651 MW · 390 25 Jul 2019 · 1,922 MW · 261 26 Jul 2019 · 1,367 MW · 219 27 Jul 2019 · 728 MW · 150 28 Jul 2019 · 1,245 MW · 184 29 Jul 2019 · 1,017 MW · 190 30 Jul 2019 · 711 MW · 141 31 Jul 2019 · 1,157 MW · 203 1 Aug 2019 · 2,049 MW · 376 2 Aug 2019 · 3,832 MW · 382 3 Aug 2019 · 1,730 MW · 339 4 Aug 2019 · 1,293 MW · 255 5 Aug 2019 · 1,196 MW · 224 6 Aug 2019 · 1,641 MW · 314 7 Aug 2019 · 396 MW · 60 8 Aug 2019 · 834 MW · 122 9 Aug 2019 · 308 MW · 67 10 Aug 2019 · 884 MW · 179 11 Aug 2019 · 1,077 MW · 192 12 Aug 2019 · 598 MW · 172 13 Aug 2019 · 675 MW · 155 14 Aug 2019 · 287 MW · 107 15 Aug 2019 · 478 MW · 120 16 Aug 2019 · 379 MW · 84 17 Aug 2019 · 311 MW · 84 18 Aug 2019 · 1,178 MW · 104 19 Aug 2019 · 97 MW · 34 20 Aug 2019 · 151 MW · 49 21 Aug 2019 · 105 MW · 26 22 Aug 2019 · 133 MW · 22 23 Aug 2019 · 20 MW · 5 24 Aug 2019 · 32 MW · 10 25 Aug 2019 · 43 MW · 12 26 Aug 2019 · 5 MW · 1
5 May 23 May 9 Jun 26 Jun 13 Jul 24 Jul 30 Jul 16 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
56km/h · peak gust
7%lowest humidity

It had gone one day without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

74% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 152,711 ha in 2016, 138,091 ha in 2017, 140,024 ha in 2018. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 302,539 ha that had burned before.

How big is it?

20 km
It burned the equivalent of 2.6 times the area of London (4,083 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 Daly where it started
    223,128 ha reached on 5 May
    16 %
  2. Victoria Daly
    186,660 ha reached on 5 May
    1.2 %

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)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
5 May 32.5 °C 20 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
6 May 31.6 °C 24 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
7 May 31.6 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
8 May 32.1 °C 16 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
9 May 31.5 °C 14 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
10 May 29.1 °C 18 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
11 May 25.4 °C 19 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
12 May 29.7 °C 16 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
13 May 31.9 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
14 May 33.5 °C 22 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
15 May 33.5 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
16 May 35.1 °C 30 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
17 May 34.3 °C 39 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
18 May 34.9 °C 38 % 34 km/h 0.4 mm High 30
19 May 34.1 °C 32 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
20 May 34.2 °C 34 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
21 May 34.4 °C 29 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
22 May 34.2 °C 27 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 May 33.1 °C 26 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
24 May 33.0 °C 22 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
25 May 33.1 °C 27 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
26 May 33.2 °C 25 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
27 May 33.0 °C 19 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
28 May 31.0 °C 22 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
29 May 30.5 °C 19 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
30 May 29.3 °C 16 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
31 May 27.4 °C 20 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
1 Jun 27.7 °C 20 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
2 Jun 28.0 °C 17 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
3 Jun 26.4 °C 21 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
4 Jun 25.6 °C 17 % 56 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
5 Jun 23.8 °C 15 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
6 Jun 26.8 °C 13 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
7 Jun 28.4 °C 12 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
8 Jun 31.0 °C 34 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
9 Jun 32.3 °C 36 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
10 Jun 34.2 °C 29 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
11 Jun 34.4 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
12 Jun 35.1 °C 27 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
13 Jun 35.0 °C 26 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
14 Jun 34.3 °C 28 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
15 Jun 33.6 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Jun 34.2 °C 25 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
17 Jun 32.7 °C 24 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
18 Jun 31.5 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
19 Jun 28.4 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
20 Jun 28.7 °C 13 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
21 Jun 28.5 °C 16 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
22 Jun 27.8 °C 17 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
23 Jun 28.5 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
24 Jun 28.9 °C 8 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
25 Jun 29.9 °C 8 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
26 Jun 29.0 °C 10 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
27 Jun 29.6 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
28 Jun 30.9 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
29 Jun 32.0 °C 24 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
30 Jun 33.2 °C 27 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
1 Jul 32.1 °C 28 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 Jul 31.4 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
3 Jul 30.5 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
4 Jul 29.4 °C 13 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
5 Jul 30.0 °C 15 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
6 Jul 31.1 °C 17 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
7 Jul 30.7 °C 20 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
8 Jul 30.7 °C 20 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
9 Jul 31.3 °C 25 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
10 Jul 30.9 °C 25 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
11 Jul 30.3 °C 23 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
12 Jul 31.3 °C 25 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
13 Jul 31.1 °C 11 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
14 Jul 28.0 °C 15 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
15 Jul 27.0 °C 11 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
16 Jul 28.9 °C 10 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
17 Jul 30.3 °C 9 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
18 Jul 31.0 °C 11 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
19 Jul 32.6 °C 13 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
20 Jul 34.6 °C 14 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
21 Jul 33.2 °C 18 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
22 Jul 32.8 °C 21 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
23 Jul 33.5 °C 12 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
24 Jul 32.2 °C 8 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
25 Jul 32.3 °C 23 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
26 Jul 31.7 °C 25 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
27 Jul 32.5 °C 26 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
28 Jul 33.0 °C 23 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
29 Jul 32.8 °C 26 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
30 Jul 33.6 °C 23 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
31 Jul 33.1 °C 20 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
1 Aug 31.8 °C 15 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
2 Aug 28.6 °C 10 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
3 Aug 29.8 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
4 Aug 30.5 °C 24 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
5 Aug 32.4 °C 20 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
6 Aug 33.1 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
7 Aug 33.1 °C 24 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
8 Aug 33.6 °C 24 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
9 Aug 34.6 °C 21 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
10 Aug 33.9 °C 15 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
11 Aug 32.4 °C 11 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
12 Aug 30.1 °C 7 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
13 Aug 28.8 °C 8 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
14 Aug 29.9 °C 8 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
15 Aug 32.4 °C 18 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
16 Aug 33.6 °C 19 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
17 Aug 34.2 °C 19 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
18 Aug 35.1 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
19 Aug 35.6 °C 17 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
20 Aug 30.1 °C 12 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
21 Aug 29.6 °C 10 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
22 Aug 32.0 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
23 Aug 33.2 °C 14 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
24 Aug 34.5 °C 12 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 50
25 Aug 34.0 °C 19 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
26 Aug after 33.4 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
27 Aug after 33.7 °C 11 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
28 Aug after 34.7 °C 6 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 72
29 Aug after 30.8 °C 3 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
30 Aug after 31.7 °C 2 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
31 Aug after 33.1 °C 6 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
1 Sept after 34.1 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
2 Sept after 34.4 °C 13 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
3 Sept after 34.6 °C 18 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
4 Sept after 34.9 °C 21 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 28 Apr 2019
After · 1 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 · 21,389Every 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 Daly fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 5 May 2019 to 25 August 2019 (113 days). The perimeter dates it from 9 May 2019 to 23 August 2019.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 408,300 hectares (4,083.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: West Daly (223,128 ha, 16 %); Victoria Daly (186,660 ha, 1.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 35.6 °C, humidity dropped to 7 % and gusts hit 56 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 67, 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; 6 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 9 May 2019 to 23 August 2019. 21,389 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.

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.