Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in Mafikeng
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 1,149 fire detections seen from space; 90 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2023, 1,689.
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
- 1,149Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 90 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 3 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 3 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 5 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 5 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 1 fire detection |
| April 2026 | 1 fire detection |
| May 2026 | 9 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 151 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 605 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 285 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 61 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 20 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 | 0.0 ha burnt (0.000% 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 | 90 ha burnt (0.025% 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 | 20 | 18 | 32 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 61 | 55 | 88 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 285 | 255 | 410 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 605 | 581 | 574 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 151 | 143 | 188 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 90 ha | 0.025% | 100% |
| April 2026 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| March 2026 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| February 2026 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| January 2026 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| December 2025 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| November 2025 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 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
- 20231,689 fire detections, most in June 2023; 48,021 ha burnt
- 20211,566 fire detections, most in July 2021; 41,070 ha burnt
- 20201,045 fire detections, most in July 2020; 34,985 ha burnt
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2023, 48,021 ha (13.2% of the place); 2021, 41,070 ha (11.3% of the place); 2020, 34,985 ha (9.6% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 1,143 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 679 | 18,027 ha | 4.9% |
| 2024 | 458 | 9,373 ha | 2.6% |
| 2023 | 1,689 | 48,021 ha | 13.2% |
| 2022 | 814 | 17,331 ha | 4.8% |
| 2021 | 1,566 | 41,070 ha | 11.3% |
| 2020 | 1,045 | 34,985 ha | 9.6% |
| 2019 | 471 | 9,563 ha | 2.6% |
| 2018 | 965 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 421 | · | · |
| 2016 | 22 | · | · |
| 2015 | 102 | · | · |
| 2014 | 279 | · | · |
| 2013 | 54 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 283 | · | · |
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 (Morwamarapo, Madibe-Makgabane)
- Ward 2 (Airportview, Moletsamongwe)
- Ward 3 (Ikopeleng, Makgokgwane)
- Ward 4 (Ottoshoop, Jacobsdal)
- Ward 5 (Lomanyaneng)
- Ward 6 (Lokaleng, Masutlhe)
- Ward 7 (Imperial Reserve, Libertas)
- Ward 8 (Mmabatho, Montshioa)
- Ward 9 (Slurry, Rooigrond)
- Ward 10 (Mmabatho)
- Ward 11 (Seweding)
- Ward 12 (Motsoseng)
- Ward 13 (Seweding, Motlhabeng)
- Ward 14 (Mazezuru)
- Ward 15 (Bokone, Lorwaneng)
- Ward 16 (Ramosadi)
- Ward 17 (Danville)
- Ward 18 (Magogoe, Tlhabologo)
- Ward 19
- Ward 20
- Ward 21 (Majemantsho, Mosiane)
- Ward 22 (Ga-Koi-Koi)
- Ward 23 (Lotlhakane, Mantsa)
- Ward 24 (Thusong, Enselsrus)
- Ward 25 (Brooksby, Driehoek)
- Ward 26 (Morwatshetlha, Thelesho)
- Ward 27 (Matlhonyane, Matshephe)
- Ward 28 (Molelwane, Signal Hill)
- Ward 29 (Mahikeng, Golf View)
- Ward 30 (Dibate, Motlhabeng)
- Ward 31 (Dithakong, Dithwaneng)
- Ward 32 (Molelwane, Signal Hill)
- Ward 33 (Montshiwa, Seweding)
- Ward 34 (Makhubung)
- Ward 35 (Setlopo)
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Mafikeng, 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.