Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in Newcastle
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 1,036 fire detections seen from space; 398 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2018, 1,677.
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
- 1,036Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 398 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 1 fire detection |
| December 2025 | 1 fire detection |
| January 2026 | 3 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 9 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 1 fire detection |
| April 2026 | 2 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 13 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 138 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 185 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 339 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 245 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 99 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 | 0.0 ha burnt (0.000% of the place) |
| May 2026 | 398 ha burnt (0.21% 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 | 99 | 89 | 98 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 245 | 229 | 210 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 339 | 329 | 379 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 185 | 179 | 262 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 138 | 134 | 129 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 13 | 13 | 25 | 398 ha | 0.21% | 100% |
| April 2026 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| March 2026 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| February 2026 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| January 2026 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| December 2025 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| November 2025 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 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
- 20181,677 fire detections, most in September 2018
- 20131,498 fire detections, most in September 2013
- 20241,496 fire detections, most in August 2024; 32,496 ha burnt
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2024, 32,496 ha (17.5% of the place); 2019, 20,547 ha (11.1% of the place); 2021, 16,798 ha (9.1% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 1,034 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 562 | 6,037 ha | 3.3% |
| 2024 | 1,496 | 32,496 ha | 17.5% |
| 2023 | 1,181 | 13,210 ha | 7.1% |
| 2022 | 879 | 12,155 ha | 6.6% |
| 2021 | 1,328 | 16,798 ha | 9.1% |
| 2020 | 1,136 | 16,145 ha | 8.7% |
| 2019 | 1,120 | 20,547 ha | 11.1% |
| 2018 | 1,677 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 1,467 | · | · |
| 2016 | 725 | · | · |
| 2015 | 893 | · | · |
| 2014 | 853 | · | · |
| 2013 | 1,498 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 1,045 | · | · |
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 (Clavis, Charlestown)
- Ward 2 (Aviary Hill, Schuinshoogte)
- Ward 3 (Fernwood, Ghandi Park)
- Ward 4 (Amiel Park, Hutten Heights)
- Ward 5 (Amajuba Park, Barry Hertzog Park)
- Ward 6 (Jobstown, Leslie)
- Ward 7 (Mndozo)
- Ward 8
- Ward 9 (Inverness)
- Ward 10
- Ward 11
- Ward 12
- Ward 13
- Ward 14
- Ward 15 (Blaaubosch)
- Ward 16 (Blaaubosch)
- Ward 17
- Ward 18
- Ward 19 (Blaaubosch)
- Ward 20 (Kwamathukuza)
- Ward 21 (Ngagane, Tuam)
- Ward 22
- Ward 23
- Ward 24 (Madadeni)
- Ward 25 (Newcastle, Lenville)
- Ward 26
- Ward 27
- Ward 28
- Ward 29
- Ward 30 (Osizweni)
- Ward 31 (Masondale, Muiskraal)
- Ward 32
- Ward 33 (Claremont)
- Ward 34 (Arbor Park, Equarand)
- Ward 35 (Jakkalspan, Manzana)
- Ward 36
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Newcastle, 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.