Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in Moses Kotane
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 2,905 fire detections seen from space; 776 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2023, 6,417.
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
- 2,905Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 776 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 2 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 0 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 1 fire detection |
| February 2026 | 10 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 0 fire detections |
| April 2026 | 5 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 29 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 282 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 1,184 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 1,035 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 274 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 83 fire detections |
| November 2025 | 404 ha burnt (0.070% 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 | 21 ha burnt (0.004% of the place) |
| May 2026 | 351 ha burnt (0.061% 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 | 83 | 69 | 86 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 274 | 234 | 285 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 1,035 | 941 | 1,059 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 1,184 | 1,125 | 1,619 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 282 | 273 | 227 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 29 | 28 | 26 | 351 ha | 0.061% | 100% |
| April 2026 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 21 ha | 0.004% | 100% |
| March 2026 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| February 2026 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| January 2026 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| December 2025 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| November 2025 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 404 ha | 0.070% | 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
- 20236,417 fire detections, most in August 2023; 123,877 ha burnt
- 20213,362 fire detections, most in June 2021; 77,627 ha burnt
- 20222,361 fire detections, most in October 2022; 46,292 ha burnt
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2023, 123,877 ha (21.4% of the place); 2021, 77,627 ha (13.4% of the place); 2020, 49,644 ha (8.6% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 2,903 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 2,073 | 42,932 ha | 7.4% |
| 2024 | 585 | 7,773 ha | 1.3% |
| 2023 | 6,417 | 123,877 ha | 21.4% |
| 2022 | 2,361 | 46,292 ha | 8.0% |
| 2021 | 3,362 | 77,627 ha | 13.4% |
| 2020 | 2,190 | 49,644 ha | 8.6% |
| 2019 | 1,197 | 18,876 ha | 3.3% |
| 2018 | 2,007 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 1,383 | · | · |
| 2016 | 51 | · | · |
| 2015 | 1,134 | · | · |
| 2014 | 943 | · | · |
| 2013 | 988 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 1,927 | · | · |
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 (Dwarsberg, Pitsedisulejang)
- Ward 2 (Davidskatnagel, Dikutswane)
- Ward 3 (Ga-Manamela, Mmatau)
- Ward 4 (Brakkuil, Koffiekraal)
- Ward 5 (Kraalhoek)
- Ward 6 (Elandskuil, Molorwe)
- Ward 7 (Ga-Ramosidi, Sefikile)
- Ward 8 (Magalane, Magong)
- Ward 9 (Lekutung, Lesetlheng)
- Ward 10 (Sandfontein)
- Ward 11 (Bojating, Mmorogong)
- Ward 12 (Ramokokstad, Thabeng)
- Ward 13 (Sun City)
- Ward 14 (Kagiso, Ledig)
- Ward 15 (Doringpoort)
- Ward 16 (Dikweipi, Welgeval)
- Ward 17 (Doringpoort, Lerome)
- Ward 18 (Pella, Pella Dam)
- Ward 19 (Madikwe, Pella)
- Ward 20 (Silwerkrans)
- Ward 21 (Sesibitswe, Vrede)
- Ward 22 (Manamakgoteng, Tlapane)
- Ward 23 (Lengeneng, Mabeskraal)
- Ward 24 (Makoshong, Marula Park)
- Ward 25 (Bapong, Holfontein)
- Ward 26 (Phalane)
- Ward 27 (Makgope, Malawi Village)
- Ward 28 (Lekwadi, Serosecha)
- Ward 29
- Ward 30 (Letlhabile, Mahobieskraal)
- Ward 31 (Rampipi)
- Ward 32 (Saulspoort, Moruleng)
- Ward 33 (Mogwase)
- Ward 34 (Mmantserre, Mopyane)
- Ward 35 (Mogwase)
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Moses Kotane, 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.