Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in King Sabata Dalindyebo
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 290 fire detections seen from space; 198 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2024, 1,533.
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
- 290Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 198 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 26 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 2 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 42 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 2 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 2 fire detections |
| April 2026 | 2 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 18 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 2 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 108 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 78 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 8 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 0 fire detections |
| November 2025 | 12 ha burnt (0.004% of the place) |
| December 2025 | 0.0 ha burnt (0.000% of the place) |
| January 2026 | 43 ha burnt (0.014% of the place) |
| February 2026 | 10 ha burnt (0.003% of the place) |
| March 2026 | 0.0 ha burnt (0.000% of the place) |
| April 2026 | 0.0 ha burnt (0.000% of the place) |
| May 2026 | 133 ha burnt (0.044% 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 | 0 | 0 | 0 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 8 | 8 | 3 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 78 | 78 | 76 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 108 | 104 | 147 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 2 | 2 | 10 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 18 | 18 | 15 | 133 ha | 0.044% | 99% |
| April 2026 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 99% |
| March 2026 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 99% |
| February 2026 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 ha | 0.003% | 99% |
| January 2026 | 42 | 28 | 40 | 43 ha | 0.014% | 99% |
| December 2025 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 99% |
| November 2025 | 26 | 24 | 24 | 12 ha | 0.004% | 99% |
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
- 20241,533 fire detections, most in August 2024; 22,009 ha burnt
- 20231,029 fire detections, most in August 2023; 9,767 ha burnt
- 2013730 fire detections, most in August 2013
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2024, 22,009 ha (7.3% of the place); 2023, 9,767 ha (3.2% of the place); 2021, 3,510 ha (1.2% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 262 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 228 | 1,260 ha | 0.42% |
| 2024 | 1,533 | 22,009 ha | 7.3% |
| 2023 | 1,029 | 9,767 ha | 3.2% |
| 2022 | 183 | 533 ha | 0.18% |
| 2021 | 348 | 3,510 ha | 1.2% |
| 2020 | 357 | 1,963 ha | 0.65% |
| 2019 | 169 | 955 ha | 0.32% |
| 2018 | 147 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 117 | · | · |
| 2016 | 153 | · | · |
| 2015 | 95 | · | · |
| 2014 | 305 | · | · |
| 2013 | 730 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 285 | · | · |
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 (Nonkobe, Silverton)
- Ward 2 (Ikwezi)
- Ward 3 (Ikwezi, Mthatha)
- Ward 4 (Amendu, Southernwood)
- Ward 5 (Sidwadwa View, Southridge)
- Ward 6 (Fort Gale, Fort Gale North)
- Ward 7 (Mthatha, Mbuqe Extension)
- Ward 8 (North Crest, Norwood)
- Ward 9 (Hillcrest, Ncambedlana)
- Ward 10 (Gxojana, Manxiweni)
- Ward 11 (Mandela Park)
- Ward 12 (Joen Slovo, Pola Park)
- Ward 13 (Mount Pleasant)
- Ward 14 (Hairfield, Lindini)
- Ward 15
- Ward 16
- Ward 17
- Ward 18 (KwaBityi)
- Ward 19 (Mandlaneni, Marawuleni)
- Ward 20 (KuGangxu, Mvezo)
- Ward 21 (KuTogwana)
- Ward 22
- Ward 23
- Ward 24 (Coffee Bay, Hole in the Wall)
- Ward 25
- Ward 26 (Madwaleni, Maweni)
- Ward 27
- Ward 28 (Kotishini, Tafani)
- Ward 29 (KwaNxele, Luxolweni)
- Ward 30 (Sidwadwa)
- Ward 31 (Kwamhaqa, Sigangeni)
- Ward 32 (Bavuma, Rhuyrwala)
- Ward 33 (Ezintabeni, Kwantshele)
- Ward 34
- Ward 35 (Emandlandeni, Entebe)
- Ward 36
- Ward 37 (Chris Hani, De Colligny Mission Station)
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for King Sabata Dalindyebo, 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.