Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in City of Mbombela
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 1,839 fire detections seen from space; 894 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2014, 5,358.
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
- 1,839Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 894 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 7 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 22 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 17 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 75 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 9 fire detections |
| April 2026 | 24 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 105 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 198 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 710 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 415 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 95 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 162 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 | 72 ha burnt (0.010% of the place) |
| March 2026 | 6.8 ha burnt (0.001% of the place) |
| April 2026 | 187 ha burnt (0.026% of the place) |
| May 2026 | 628 ha burnt (0.088% 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 | 162 | 138 | 161 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 95 | 91 | 115 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 415 | 379 | 485 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 710 | 671 | 825 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 198 | 195 | 213 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 105 | 102 | 80 | 628 ha | 0.088% | 100% |
| April 2026 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 187 ha | 0.026% | 100% |
| March 2026 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 6.8 ha | 0.001% | 100% |
| February 2026 | 75 | 68 | 59 | 72 ha | 0.010% | 100% |
| January 2026 | 17 | 14 | 15 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| December 2025 | 22 | 20 | 15 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| November 2025 | 7 | 5 | 17 | 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
- 20145,358 fire detections, most in September 2014
- 20125,326 fire detections, most in August 2012
- 20244,562 fire detections, most in July 2024; 78,625 ha burnt
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2024, 78,625 ha (11.0% of the place); 2025, 48,142 ha (6.7% of the place); 2019, 47,067 ha (6.6% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 1,810 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 2,810 | 48,142 ha | 6.7% |
| 2024 | 4,562 | 78,625 ha | 11.0% |
| 2023 | 3,501 | 41,966 ha | 5.9% |
| 2022 | 2,228 | 27,855 ha | 3.9% |
| 2021 | 3,470 | 31,801 ha | 4.5% |
| 2020 | 2,829 | 35,418 ha | 5.0% |
| 2019 | 4,150 | 47,067 ha | 6.6% |
| 2018 | 3,647 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 3,002 | · | · |
| 2016 | 2,328 | · | · |
| 2015 | 3,448 | · | · |
| 2014 | 5,358 | · | · |
| 2013 | 3,982 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 5,326 | · | · |
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 (Hazyview, Numbi park)
- Ward 2 (eGobhoza)
- Ward 3 (Kiepersol)
- Ward 4 (eHlau-Hlau)
- Ward 5 (Salubindza, Phola)
- Ward 6 (Phola)
- Ward 7 (Manzini)
- Ward 8 (Legogoto, White River Country Estates)
- Ward 9 (Jerusalem, Lundi)
- Ward 10 (Kamsogwaba, Hlauhlau)
- Ward 11
- Ward 12 (Kaapsehoop, Ngodwana)
- Ward 13 (Matsulu)
- Ward 14 (Gateway, Mataffin)
- Ward 15 (West Acres, Sonheuwel)
- Ward 16 (Mbombela, Nelindja)
- Ward 17 (Steiltes)
- Ward 18 (Kamagugu, Mayfern)
- Ward 19 (Kanyamazane)
- Ward 20 (Nyamazaneni)
- Ward 21 (Nyamazaneni, Kanyamazane)
- Ward 22
- Ward 23
- Ward 24 (Luphisi, Mpakeni)
- Ward 25 (Tshabalala, Nkambeni)
- Ward 26
- Ward 27 (Matsulu)
- Ward 28 (Matsulu)
- Ward 29 (Pienaar)
- Ward 30 (White River)
- Ward 31
- Ward 32 (Dwaleni)
- Ward 33 (eMbonisweni, Ngodini)
- Ward 34 (Makoko, Malekutu)
- Ward 35 (Kiaat)
- Ward 36
- Ward 37 (eMdlankhomo, Nsikazi)
- Ward 38 (Mageng, Mpumalanga)
- Ward 39 (Bojwana, Numbipark)
- Ward 40 (eMankayana)
- Ward 41 (Nelshoogte)
- Ward 42 (Barberton)
- Ward 43 (Noordkaap)
- Ward 44 (eMjindini)
- Ward 45
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for City of Mbombela, 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.