Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in Maluti a Phofung
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 1,601 fire detections seen from space; 338 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2023, 2,790.
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
- 1,601Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 338 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 4 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 0 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 2 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 1 fire detection |
| March 2026 | 5 fire detections |
| April 2026 | 0 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 10 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 72 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 430 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 615 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 321 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 141 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 | 28 ha burnt (0.006% 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 | 310 ha burnt (0.068% 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 | 141 | 122 | 131 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 321 | 312 | 458 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 615 | 597 | 686 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 430 | 418 | 466 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 72 | 72 | 83 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 310 ha | 0.068% | 98% |
| April 2026 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
| March 2026 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
| February 2026 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 28 ha | 0.006% | 98% |
| January 2026 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
| December 2025 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
| November 2025 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
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
- 20232,790 fire detections, most in September 2023; 57,316 ha burnt
- 20142,526 fire detections, most in September 2014
- 20211,973 fire detections, most in September 2021; 43,702 ha burnt
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2024, 61,859 ha (13.5% of the place); 2023, 57,316 ha (12.5% of the place); 2021, 43,702 ha (9.5% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 1,597 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 1,138 | 23,962 ha | 5.2% |
| 2024 | 1,796 | 61,859 ha | 13.5% |
| 2023 | 2,790 | 57,316 ha | 12.5% |
| 2022 | 1,344 | 25,900 ha | 5.7% |
| 2021 | 1,973 | 43,702 ha | 9.5% |
| 2020 | 1,338 | 34,461 ha | 7.5% |
| 2019 | 1,197 | 24,481 ha | 5.3% |
| 2018 | 1,060 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 1,770 | · | · |
| 2016 | 494 | · | · |
| 2015 | 1,063 | · | · |
| 2014 | 2,526 | · | · |
| 2013 | 1,850 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 1,555 | · | · |
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
- Ward 2 (Matsikeng, Mphatlalatsane)
- Ward 3 (Kestell, Aberfeldy)
- Ward 4 (Phomolong)
- Ward 5 (Phomolong)
- Ward 6 (Bergsig, Kings Hill)
- Ward 7 (Makhalaneng, Phuthaditjhaba-B)
- Ward 8 (Dithotaneng)
- Ward 9 (Paballong)
- Ward 10 (Tseki)
- Ward 11 (Mantsubise, Monontsha)
- Ward 12 (Masaleng, Naledi)
- Ward 13 (Bolata)
- Ward 14 (Phamong)
- Ward 15 (Phahameng, Sekgutlong)
- Ward 16 (Makeneng, Mmakong)
- Ward 17 (Mangaung, Sebokeng)
- Ward 18 (Letshalemaduke)
- Ward 19 (Ha-Sethunya)
- Ward 20 (Sentinal Gully)
- Ward 21
- Ward 22 (Harrismith)
- Ward 23 (Marakong)
- Ward 24 (Qholaqhwe, Tebang)
- Ward 25 (Phuthaditjhaba, Phuthaditjhaba-H)
- Ward 26 (Ha-Rankopane)
- Ward 27 (Phuthaditjhaba-A)
- Ward 28 (Boitekong, Kudumane)
- Ward 29 (Phuthaditjhaba-C)
- Ward 30
- Ward 31
- Ward 32
- Ward 33
- Ward 34 (Phuthaditjhaba-L, Phuthaditjhaba-N)
- Ward 35
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Maluti a Phofung, 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.