Calamity
criticalFireCalamity Score: 68

Large Wildfire

24d agoBallaratAustraliaSource: firms

32 fire pixels detected · FRP: 1378 MW · ~4.5 km²

Geographic Context

This fire event occurred near Ballarat (approximately 34 km away) in Australia, a region where extreme heat events and eucalyptus forests create conditions highly conducive to wildfire spread. An estimated 1.8K people live within 35 km of the event location, placing this in the "minor" population impact tier.

Event Assessment

This event is a large-scale wildfire with a fire radiative power (FRP) of 1378 MW, indicating extreme heat output and rapid fire spread. Calamity.live has classified it as "critical" severity with a severity value of 100. The computed Calamity Score is 68 out of 100, reflecting a moderate-impact event. The primary scoring components are: intensity (95), historical (80), cascading (70). 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
Severitycritical
Severity Value100
Calamity Score68 / 100
Confidence84%
Coordinates-37.8595, 143.7113
Nearest CityBallarat (34 km)
Population Exposed1.8K within 35 km
Impact Tierminor
Timestamp2026-03-21T05:01:29.476Z

Score Breakdown

95
intensity
25
population
70
cascading
80
historical

Technical Details

Brightness367
Frp1378.46
PixelCount32
Confidencehigh
Area Km24.48

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 68/100, near Ballarat (Australia), based on data from firms. Source: Calamity.live, a platform aggregating real-time data from 207 scientific monitoring sources.