20 fire pixels detected · FRP: 118 MW · ~2.8 km²
Geographic Context
This fire event occurred near Lae (approximately 94 km away) in Papua New Guinea, an area that experiences a range of natural hazards.
Event Assessment
This event is a significant wildfire detected by satellite with a fire radiative power of 118 MW, suggesting active, intense burning across multiple detection pixels. Calamity.live has classified it as "high" severity with a severity value of 43.660000000000004. The computed Calamity Score is 40 out of 100, reflecting a moderate-impact event. The primary scoring components are: cascading (64), intensity (60), historical (30). Data for this event was sourced from firms, one of the 250 scientific monitoring sources aggregated by Calamity.live.
Regional Monitoring Context
Papua New Guinea 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
| Type | Fire |
| Severity | high |
| Severity Value | 43.660000000000004 |
| Calamity Score | 40 / 100 |
| Confidence | 64% |
| Coordinates | -6.0350, 147.5034 |
| Nearest City | Lae (94 km) |
| Impact Tier | minor |
| Timestamp | 2026-05-16T21:10:44.386Z |
Score Breakdown
Technical Details
| Brightness | 351.55 |
| Frp | 118.30000000000001 |
| PixelCount | 20 |
| Confidence | nominal |
| Area Km2 | 2.8000000000000003 |
Cascade Risks
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.
Calamity.live data shows a fire event with CalamityScore 40/100, near Lae (Papua New Guinea), based on data from firms. Source: Calamity.live, a platform aggregating real-time data from 207 scientific monitoring sources.