Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in Abaqulusi
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 2,940 fire detections seen from space; 541 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2013, 4,296.
Two readings from space. Fire detections are hot spots a VIIRS satellite saw as it passed, each about 375 m across, counted where they fall in the place: a big fire gives many, a short one between passes none. Burnt area is the ground that looks burnt afterwards, from Sentinel-3 at 300 m, in hectares. Neither is a fire report from the ground.
The last twelve months
- 2,940Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 541 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 21 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 19 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 14 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 31 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 17 fire detections |
| April 2026 | 18 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 70 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 159 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 786 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 815 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 714 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 276 fire detections |
| November 2025 | 0.0 ha burnt (0.000% of the place) |
| December 2025 | 0.0 ha burnt (0.000% of the place) |
| January 2026 | 0.0 ha burnt (0.000% of the place) |
| February 2026 | 13 ha burnt (0.003% of the place) |
| March 2026 | 87 ha burnt (0.019% of the place) |
| April 2026 | 57 ha burnt (0.013% of the place) |
| May 2026 | 384 ha burnt (0.085% of the place) |
| June 2026 | not out yet |
| July 2026 | not out yet |
| August 2026 | not out yet |
| September 2026 | not out yet |
| October 2026 | not out yet |
| Month | Detections | Nominal or high confidence | NOAA-20 (second reading) | Burnt | Share of the place | Land seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | 276 | 252 | 290 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 714 | 680 | 634 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 815 | 772 | 884 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 786 | 759 | 832 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 159 | 153 | 118 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 70 | 68 | 90 | 384 ha | 0.085% | 100% |
| April 2026 | 18 | 17 | 19 | 57 ha | 0.013% | 100% |
| March 2026 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 87 ha | 0.019% | 100% |
| February 2026 | 31 | 29 | 30 | 13 ha | 0.003% | 100% |
| January 2026 | 14 | 11 | 18 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| December 2025 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| November 2025 | 21 | 17 | 36 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
NOAA-20 carries the same instrument as S-NPP and passes about 50 minutes apart, so its count is a second reading of the same fires, not extra fires. “Land seen” is the share of the place’s land the burnt-area product saw often enough that month to tell.
The worst years
- 20134,296 fire detections, most in August 2013
- 20193,952 fire detections, most in July 2019; 56,822 ha burnt
- 20233,888 fire detections, most in September 2023; 45,365 ha burnt
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2019, 56,822 ha (12.5% of the place); 2024, 54,360 ha (12.0% of the place); 2023, 45,365 ha (10.0% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 2,900 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 3,075 | 32,553 ha | 7.2% |
| 2024 | 3,158 | 54,360 ha | 12.0% |
| 2023 | 3,888 | 45,365 ha | 10.0% |
| 2022 | 2,475 | 27,863 ha | 6.1% |
| 2021 | 3,160 | 37,740 ha | 8.3% |
| 2020 | 3,056 | 32,719 ha | 7.2% |
| 2019 | 3,952 | 56,822 ha | 12.5% |
| 2018 | 2,609 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 3,008 | · | · |
| 2016 | 1,365 | · | · |
| 2015 | 1,865 | · | · |
| 2014 | 3,751 | · | · |
| 2013 | 4,296 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 3,753 | · | · |
Detections from February 2012 (S-NPP); burnt area from July 2018, so whole years of it from 2019. A larger place’s figures are the sums of its 2026 wards.
Each ward
- Ward 1 (Louwsburg, Ithala Offices)
- Ward 2 (Ngome Forest)
- Ward 3
- Ward 4
- Ward 5 (Boshoek)
- Ward 6 (Coronation, Hlobane)
- Ward 7
- Ward 8 (Vryheid, Bhekuzulu)
- Ward 9 (Vryheid, Edel Park)
- Ward 10 (Bhekuzulu)
- Ward 11 (Bhekuzulu)
- Ward 12 (Kwa-Mabona)
- Ward 13 (Bhekuzulu)
- Ward 14 (Ezibomvu, Emdudubezini)
- Ward 15 (Emhlangani, Esigodini)
- Ward 16 (Enhlahleni, Trado Farms)
- Ward 17 (Machan, Muuzini)
- Ward 18 (eMondlo)
- Ward 19 (Mondlo)
- Ward 20
- Ward 21 (Bhobomzana, Enhlahleni)
- Ward 22 (Lakeside)
- Ward 23 (Hlobane, Hlobane - Vaalbank)
- Ward 24
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Abaqulusi, on one page
Source
Seen from space by American and European satellites: not fires reported on the ground.
How we worked this out
What we changed: we counted FIRMS’s detections (presumed vegetation fires only) by the 2026 ward their position falls in, and summed CLMS’s burned fraction times each pixel’s area over each ward; municipalities, districts and provinces are the sums of their wards.
Fire detections: we acknowledge the use of data and/or imagery from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), part of NASA’s LANCE (VIIRS 375 m, S-NPP and NOAA-20). Burnt area: generated using European Union’s Copernicus Land Monitoring Service information (Burnt Area 300 m version 4, DOI 10.2909/8fa58061-28ab-49bb-9b77-c26b50733e34), modified; this does not mean the European Union endorses us.
Dataset: burnt area and fire, release of 12 November 2026.