Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in Midvaal
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 344 fire detections seen from space; 676 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2012, 871.
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
- 344Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 676 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 5 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 0 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 6 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 5 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 1 fire detection |
| April 2026 | 0 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 37 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 78 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 125 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 56 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 10 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 21 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 | 29 ha burnt (0.017% of the place) |
| May 2026 | 647 ha burnt (0.38% 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 | 21 | 21 | 20 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 10 | 10 | 17 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 56 | 51 | 69 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 125 | 121 | 187 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 78 | 74 | 106 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 37 | 33 | 25 | 647 ha | 0.38% | 98% |
| April 2026 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 29 ha | 0.017% | 98% |
| March 2026 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
| February 2026 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
| January 2026 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
| December 2025 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
| November 2025 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 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
- 2012871 fire detections, most in August 2012
- 2014856 fire detections, most in August 2014
- 2023731 fire detections, most in August 2023; 9,038 ha burnt
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2024, 12,828 ha (7.4% of the place); 2019, 10,635 ha (6.2% of the place); 2023, 9,038 ha (5.2% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 339 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 445 | 6,151 ha | 3.6% |
| 2024 | 547 | 12,828 ha | 7.4% |
| 2023 | 731 | 9,038 ha | 5.2% |
| 2022 | 500 | 6,668 ha | 3.9% |
| 2021 | 705 | 8,859 ha | 5.1% |
| 2020 | 441 | 6,179 ha | 3.6% |
| 2019 | 623 | 10,635 ha | 6.2% |
| 2018 | 556 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 688 | · | · |
| 2016 | 255 | · | · |
| 2015 | 466 | · | · |
| 2014 | 856 | · | · |
| 2013 | 574 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 871 | · | · |
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 (Helderstrome AH, Mamello)
- Ward 2 (Risi Sh, Risiville)
- Ward 3 (Kookrus, Rothdene)
- Ward 4 (Bolton Wold AH, Buyscelia AH)
- Ward 5 (De Deur, Ohinimuri)
- Ward 6 (Lakeside Estates)
- Ward 7 (Eikenhof)
- Ward 8 (Meyerton Park, Noldick)
- Ward 9 (Meyerton, Highbury)
- Ward 10 (Meyerton Park)
- Ward 11 (De Deur, Debonair Park)
- Ward 12 (Klipwater)
- Ward 13 (Riversdale, Vorsterpark AH)
- Ward 14 (Golf Park)
- Ward 15 (Henley on Klip)
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Midvaal, 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.