Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in Matatiele
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 1,083 fire detections seen from space; 55 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2014, 2,827.
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
- 1,083Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 55 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 2 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 4 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 7 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 0 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 0 fire detections |
| April 2026 | 2 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 10 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 65 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 255 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 530 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 173 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 35 fire detections |
| November 2025 | 15 ha burnt (0.003% 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 | 40 ha burnt (0.009% 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 | 35 | 31 | 31 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 173 | 170 | 168 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 530 | 519 | 597 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 255 | 246 | 275 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 65 | 65 | 84 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 40 ha | 0.009% | 100% |
| April 2026 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| March 2026 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| February 2026 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| January 2026 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| December 2025 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| November 2025 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 15 ha | 0.003% | 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
- 20142,827 fire detections, most in September 2014
- 20232,596 fire detections, most in August 2023; 41,638 ha burnt
- 20132,513 fire detections, most in August 2013
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2024, 57,513 ha (13.2% of the place); 2023, 41,638 ha (9.6% of the place); 2021, 41,193 ha (9.5% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 1,077 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 851 | 11,289 ha | 2.6% |
| 2024 | 2,055 | 57,513 ha | 13.2% |
| 2023 | 2,596 | 41,638 ha | 9.6% |
| 2022 | 1,146 | 18,407 ha | 4.2% |
| 2021 | 2,330 | 41,193 ha | 9.5% |
| 2020 | 1,148 | 23,974 ha | 5.5% |
| 2019 | 1,298 | 26,741 ha | 6.1% |
| 2018 | 1,027 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 1,359 | · | · |
| 2016 | 714 | · | · |
| 2015 | 1,400 | · | · |
| 2014 | 2,827 | · | · |
| 2013 | 2,513 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 1,826 | · | · |
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 (Maluti, Tholang)
- Ward 2 (Lekgalong, Maralakeng)
- Ward 3 (Deksotawaneng, Khohlweni)
- Ward 4 (Magema, Mazizini)
- Ward 5 (Afzondering, Emaromeni)
- Ward 6 (Dengwane, Khoapa)
- Ward 7 (Maphokweni, Newstands)
- Ward 8 (Bellfort, Disquare)
- Ward 9 (Esehlabeni, Gudlintaba)
- Ward 10 (Dumasini, KwaHlomendlwini)
- Ward 11 (Dresini, Hankonoane)
- Ward 12 (KwaSikulumi, Makavleng)
- Ward 13 (Diksbisang, Ha-Mohapi)
- Ward 14 (Ditichereng, Fatima)
- Ward 15 (Freistad, Lihaseng)
- Ward 16 (Ha-Majoro, Kgwaray)
- Ward 17 (KwaLupindo, Mbizeni)
- Ward 18 (Sijoka)
- Ward 19 (Matatiele)
- Ward 20 (Zwelitsha, Matatiele)
- Ward 21 (eMabheleni, Gxenilikulu)
- Ward 22
- Ward 23 (Bethesda, Matolweni)
- Ward 24
- Ward 25 (Andris, Jabulani)
- Ward 26 (Cedarville, Mbizeni)
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Matatiele, 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.