Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in Nkomazi
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 823 fire detections seen from space; 422 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2023, 3,099.
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
- 823Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 422 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 15 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 4 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 2 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 13 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 8 fire detections |
| April 2026 | 23 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 39 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 91 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 235 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 110 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 159 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 124 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 | 4.3 ha burnt (0.001% of the place) |
| February 2026 | 3.1 ha burnt (0.001% of the place) |
| March 2026 | 0.0 ha burnt (0.000% of the place) |
| April 2026 | 41 ha burnt (0.009% of the place) |
| May 2026 | 374 ha burnt (0.078% 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 | 124 | 115 | 132 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 159 | 141 | 166 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 110 | 105 | 117 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 235 | 222 | 268 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 91 | 88 | 87 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 39 | 34 | 48 | 374 ha | 0.078% | 99% |
| April 2026 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 41 ha | 0.009% | 99% |
| March 2026 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 99% |
| February 2026 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 3.1 ha | 0.001% | 99% |
| January 2026 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4.3 ha | 0.001% | 99% |
| December 2025 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 99% |
| November 2025 | 15 | 15 | 24 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 99% |
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
- 20233,099 fire detections, most in July 2023; 43,242 ha burnt
- 20142,554 fire detections, most in June 2014
- 20132,385 fire detections, most in June 2013
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2023, 43,242 ha (9.0% of the place); 2020, 33,689 ha (7.0% of the place); 2021, 24,933 ha (5.2% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 804 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 1,062 | 17,147 ha | 3.6% |
| 2024 | 1,215 | 21,575 ha | 4.5% |
| 2023 | 3,099 | 43,242 ha | 9.0% |
| 2022 | 1,091 | 16,903 ha | 3.5% |
| 2021 | 2,236 | 24,933 ha | 5.2% |
| 2020 | 2,138 | 33,689 ha | 7.0% |
| 2019 | 1,004 | 11,435 ha | 2.4% |
| 2018 | 984 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 1,240 | · | · |
| 2016 | 572 | · | · |
| 2015 | 1,519 | · | · |
| 2014 | 2,554 | · | · |
| 2013 | 2,385 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 1,215 | · | · |
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
- Ward 2
- Ward 3 (Naas)
- Ward 4 (Sibayeni)
- Ward 5 (Ka-Sibhejane)
- Ward 6 (Komatipoort, Albertsnek)
- Ward 7 (Mdladla, Vlakbult)
- Ward 8 (Steenbok)
- Ward 9 (Tonga)
- Ward 10 (KwaZibukwane, Phiva)
- Ward 11 (KwaMandulu)
- Ward 12 (KwaSipunu, Mananga)
- Ward 13 (Mbuzini, Mpanganeni)
- Ward 14 (Masibekela)
- Ward 15 (Magudu, Mgobode)
- Ward 16 (Madadeni, Sibange)
- Ward 17 (Mangweni)
- Ward 18 (Magogeni, Mhloshana)
- Ward 19 (Ntunda, Sikhwahlane)
- Ward 20 (Tonga View)
- Ward 21 (Kamhlushwa)
- Ward 22 (Sidlamafa)
- Ward 23 (Bosfontein, Skoonplaas)
- Ward 24
- Ward 25 (Langeloop)
- Ward 26 (Driekoppies)
- Ward 27 (Schoemansdal)
- Ward 28
- Ward 29 (Buffelspruit)
- Ward 30 (Malalane, Fisheaglebend)
- Ward 31 (Middelplaas, Schulzendal)
- Ward 32 (Jeppe's Reef)
- Ward 33
- Ward 34 (KaMaqhekeza)
- Ward 35 (Biyamiti Bushveld Camp, Crocodile Bridge Rest Camp)
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Nkomazi, 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.