Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in Nelson Mandela Bay
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 707 fire detections seen from space; 2,286 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2013, 861.
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
- 707Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 2,286 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 83 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 224 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 355 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 16 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 4 fire detections |
| April 2026 | 3 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 3 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 2 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 1 fire detection |
| August 2026 | 4 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 10 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 2 fire detections |
| November 2025 | 275 ha burnt (0.14% of the place) |
| December 2025 | 586 ha burnt (0.30% of the place) |
| January 2026 | 1,425 ha burnt (0.73% 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 | 0.0 ha burnt (0.000% 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 | 2 | 2 | 1 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 10 | 9 | 3 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 4 | 4 | 3 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 1 | 1 | 4 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 2 | 2 | 9 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
| April 2026 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
| March 2026 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
| February 2026 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 98% |
| January 2026 | 355 | 302 | 290 | 1,425 ha | 0.73% | 98% |
| December 2025 | 224 | 194 | 239 | 586 ha | 0.30% | 98% |
| November 2025 | 83 | 75 | 83 | 275 ha | 0.14% | 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
- 2013861 fire detections, most in January 2013
- 2017745 fire detections, most in June 2017
- 2025596 fire detections, most in December 2025; 1,359 ha burnt
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2024, 2,032 ha (1.0% of the place); 2025, 1,359 ha (0.70% of the place); 2019, 686 ha (0.35% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 400 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 596 | 1,359 ha | 0.70% |
| 2024 | 576 | 2,032 ha | 1.0% |
| 2023 | 141 | 255 ha | 0.13% |
| 2022 | 235 | 129 ha | 0.066% |
| 2021 | 103 | 48 ha | 0.025% |
| 2020 | 176 | 35 ha | 0.017% |
| 2019 | 414 | 686 ha | 0.35% |
| 2018 | 202 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 745 | · | · |
| 2016 | 559 | · | · |
| 2015 | 140 | · | · |
| 2014 | 445 | · | · |
| 2013 | 861 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 125 | · | · |
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 (Lovemore Heights, Lovemore Park)
- Ward 2 (Summerstrand, Skoenmakerskop)
- Ward 3 (Walmer, Greenshields Park)
- Ward 4 (Walmer South)
- Ward 5 (Gqeberha, Central)
- Ward 6 (Broadwood, Charlo)
- Ward 7 (Glenhurd, Holland Park)
- Ward 8 (Kamma Park, Lorraine)
- Ward 9 (Framesby, Linton Grange)
- Ward 10 (Malabar, Cotswold)
- Ward 11 (Neave Industrial, Korsten)
- Ward 12 (Bridgemeade, Francis Evatt Park)
- Ward 13 (Gelvandale, Gelvan Park)
- Ward 14 (Deal Party, Masangwanaville)
- Ward 15 (North End, Glendinningvale)
- Ward 16 (Bluewater Bay, Boast Village)
- Ward 17 (New Brighton, Qaqawuli)
- Ward 18 (Mandela Village, Njoli Motors)
- Ward 19 (Nkatha, Tambo Village)
- Ward 20 (KwaZakhele, Tambo Village)
- Ward 21 (Raymond Mhlaba, Rholihlahla Village)
- Ward 22 (Eluxolweni, KwaZakhele)
- Ward 23 (Motherwell, Wells Estate)
- Ward 24 (Mhlaba Village-Area Y, Sharpville Village)
- Ward 25 (Barcelona Zwide, Algoa Park)
- Ward 26 (Hlalani, Sisulu Village)
- Ward 27 (Kuwait Zwide, Zwide)
- Ward 28 (iBhayi, Kuwait Zwide)
- Ward 29 (Booysen Park)
- Ward 30 (iBhayi, KwaMagxaki)
- Ward 31 (Missionvale, Salt Lake)
- Ward 32 (Barcelona, Cleary Park)
- Ward 33 (Bethelsdorp, Govan Mbeki)
- Ward 34 (Arcadia, Salsoneville)
- Ward 35 (Chatty, Heath Park)
- Ward 36 (KwaDwesi, KwaDwesi Extension)
- Ward 37 (Floral Park, Kleinskool)
- Ward 38 (Kwanoxolo, Jacksonville)
- Ward 39 (Ben Kamma, Beverley Grove)
- Ward 40 (Greenbushes, Seaview)
- Ward 41 (Joe Slovo)
- Ward 42 (KwaNobuhle)
- Ward 43 (KwaNobuhle)
- Ward 44 (KwaNobuhle)
- Ward 45 (Witteklip Mountain)
- Ward 46 (Alexander Park Industrial)
- Ward 47 (Rooihoogte)
- Ward 48 (Kariega)
- Ward 49
- Ward 50 (Kariega)
- Ward 51 (Kariega, Alexander Park Industrial)
- Ward 52 (Despatch)
- Ward 53 (Colchester, Cannonvale)
- Ward 54 (Motherwell)
- Ward 55 (Motherwell)
- Ward 56 (Motherwell)
- Ward 57 (Motherwell)
- Ward 58 (Motherwell)
- Ward 59 (Motherwell, Redhouse)
- Ward 60 (Wells Estate)
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Nelson Mandela Bay, 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.