Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in Mogalakwena
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 2,392 fire detections seen from space; 597 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2023, 3,070.
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
- 2,392Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 597 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 | 0 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 6 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 3 fire detections |
| April 2026 | 0 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 47 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 195 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 940 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 487 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 90 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 620 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 | 121 ha burnt (0.020% of the place) |
| March 2026 | 4.6 ha burnt (0.001% of the place) |
| April 2026 | 0.0 ha burnt (0.000% of the place) |
| May 2026 | 471 ha burnt (0.076% 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 | 620 | 531 | 689 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 90 | 79 | 83 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 487 | 459 | 560 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 940 | 884 | 1,027 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 195 | 186 | 192 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 47 | 45 | 38 | 471 ha | 0.076% | 100% |
| April 2026 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| March 2026 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4.6 ha | 0.001% | 100% |
| February 2026 | 6 | 4 | 19 | 121 ha | 0.020% | 100% |
| January 2026 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| December 2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| November 2025 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 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
- 20233,070 fire detections, most in August 2023; 39,667 ha burnt
- 20141,983 fire detections, most in September 2014
- 20211,686 fire detections, most in September 2021; 20,439 ha burnt
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2023, 39,667 ha (6.4% of the place); 2021, 20,439 ha (3.3% of the place); 2024, 20,314 ha (3.3% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 2,388 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 1,218 | 14,687 ha | 2.4% |
| 2024 | 1,269 | 20,314 ha | 3.3% |
| 2023 | 3,070 | 39,667 ha | 6.4% |
| 2022 | 1,647 | 18,384 ha | 3.0% |
| 2021 | 1,686 | 20,439 ha | 3.3% |
| 2020 | 832 | 8,445 ha | 1.4% |
| 2019 | 417 | 4,543 ha | 0.74% |
| 2018 | 1,561 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 862 | · | · |
| 2016 | 587 | · | · |
| 2015 | 1,204 | · | · |
| 2014 | 1,983 | · | · |
| 2013 | 1,597 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 1,110 | · | · |
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 (Monte Cristo, Setuphulane)
- Ward 2 (Sodoma, Uitzicht)
- Ward 3 (Ga-Taueatswala, Rebone)
- Ward 4
- Ward 5 (Diphitshi, Mphelelo)
- Ward 6 (Ga-Monare, Ga-Musi)
- Ward 7 (Marken, Lesodi Mmotlana)
- Ward 8 (Dieretsaneng, Magagamatala)
- Ward 9
- Ward 10
- Ward 11 (Bakenberg)
- Ward 12 (Mahwelereng, Mokopane)
- Ward 13
- Ward 14 (Anglo American Platinum Mogalakwena Mining)
- Ward 15
- Ward 16 (Pholotsi, Ga-Pila)
- Ward 17 (Ga-Mapela)
- Ward 18
- Ward 19 (Ga-Letwaba, Ga-Mmalepeteke)
- Ward 20 (Ga-Magongwa)
- Ward 21 (Tshamahansi)
- Ward 22 (Lekalakala)
- Ward 23 (Ga-Kgubudi, Masodi)
- Ward 24 (Madiba, Tsebishi)
- Ward 25
- Ward 26 (Mahwelereng)
- Ward 27 (Mahwelereng)
- Ward 28 (Mahwelereng)
- Ward 29 (Sekgakgapeng)
- Ward 30 (Sekgakgapeng)
- Ward 31 (Mokopane)
- Ward 32 (Mokopane)
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Mogalakwena, 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.