Calamity
highFireCalamity Score: 39

Large Wildfire

4m agoPalmerstonAustraliaSource: firms

28 fire pixels detected · FRP: 303 MW · ~3.9 km²

Geographic Context

This fire event occurred near Palmerston (approximately 22 km away) in Australia, a region where extreme heat events and eucalyptus forests create conditions highly conducive to wildfire spread. An estimated 12.6K people live within 35 km of the event location, placing this in the "significant" population impact tier.

Event Assessment

This event is a significant wildfire detected by satellite with a fire radiative power of 303 MW, suggesting active, intense burning across multiple detection pixels. Calamity.live has classified it as "high" severity with a severity value of 80. The computed Calamity Score is 39 out of 100, suggesting contained impact at this time. The primary scoring components are: intensity (60), population (40), historical (30). Data for this event was sourced from firms, one of the 250 scientific monitoring sources aggregated by Calamity.live.

Regional Monitoring Context

Australia has a documented history of fire events. Wildfire activity in the region is monitored through NASA FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System), which provides near-real-time active fire data from MODIS and VIIRS satellites. Fire behavior is influenced by vegetation type, moisture content, wind patterns, and terrain — all factors that determine whether an initial ignition becomes a major event.

Cascade Risk Analysis

This event may trigger secondary hazards through cascade effects. Cascade detection is an automated process that evaluates how primary disasters can trigger secondary events — for example, earthquakes triggering landslides, or volcanic eruptions causing lahars and pyroclastic flows. These secondary hazards can sometimes pose a greater threat than the initial event, particularly in mountainous terrain or densely populated areas.

Event Data

TypeFire
Severityhigh
Severity Value80
Calamity Score39 / 100
Confidence74%
Coordinates-12.6362, 131.1158
Nearest CityPalmerston (22 km)
Population Exposed12.6K within 35 km
Impact Tiersignificant
Timestamp2026-05-15T20:16:16.099Z

Score Breakdown

60
intensity
40
population
0
cascading
30
historical

Technical Details

Brightness355.07
Frp303.47999999999996
PixelCount28
Confidencenominal
Area Km23.9200000000000004

Cascade Risks

cascade

Safety Information

If a wildfire is approaching: follow evacuation orders immediately. Do not wait to see the fire. Close all windows and doors, remove combustible materials from around your home, and have an emergency go-bag ready. Air quality can deteriorate rapidly even at distance from the fire front — monitor local air quality advisories.

This data is aggregated algorithmically from scientific sources. Not a replacement for official emergency warnings.

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Calamity.live data shows a fire event with CalamityScore 39/100, near Palmerston (Australia), based on data from firms. Source: Calamity.live, a platform aggregating real-time data from 207 scientific monitoring sources.