Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in Nqutu
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 585 fire detections seen from space; 190 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2013, 1,186.
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
- 585Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 190 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 10 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 1 fire detection |
| January 2026 | 1 fire detection |
| February 2026 | 13 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 0 fire detections |
| April 2026 | 0 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 17 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 29 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 127 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 198 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 121 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 68 fire detections |
| November 2025 | 31 ha burnt (0.016% 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 | 67 ha burnt (0.034% 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 | 92 ha burnt (0.047% 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 | 68 | 56 | 75 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 121 | 111 | 121 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 198 | 185 | 214 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 127 | 121 | 102 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 29 | 29 | 34 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 17 | 16 | 13 | 92 ha | 0.047% | 100% |
| April 2026 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| March 2026 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| February 2026 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 67 ha | 0.034% | 100% |
| January 2026 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| December 2025 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| November 2025 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 31 ha | 0.016% | 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
- 20131,186 fire detections, most in August 2013
- 2023837 fire detections, most in August 2023; 9,685 ha burnt
- 2021624 fire detections, most in September 2021; 6,533 ha burnt
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2024, 12,154 ha (6.2% of the place); 2023, 9,685 ha (4.9% of the place); 2021, 6,533 ha (3.3% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 574 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 365 | 3,381 ha | 1.7% |
| 2024 | 624 | 12,154 ha | 6.2% |
| 2023 | 837 | 9,685 ha | 4.9% |
| 2022 | 351 | 2,975 ha | 1.5% |
| 2021 | 624 | 6,533 ha | 3.3% |
| 2020 | 316 | 2,907 ha | 1.5% |
| 2019 | 476 | 5,314 ha | 2.7% |
| 2018 | 352 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 138 | · | · |
| 2016 | 57 | · | · |
| 2015 | 29 | · | · |
| 2014 | 448 | · | · |
| 2013 | 1,186 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 435 | · | · |
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 (aMagogo, Belungwana)
- Ward 3 (Broadache, Esigqokweni)
- Ward 4
- Ward 5
- Ward 6 (Nondweni)
- Ward 7 (Magabeni, Manyongazane)
- Ward 8 (Gedlekazi, Maduladula)
- Ward 9 (Nqutu)
- Ward 10 (Good Hope, Sunrise)
- Ward 11 (Bhekabani, Eersgevonden)
- Ward 12 (Goba, Kwa-Njoko)
- Ward 13 (Ngwetshana, Ntanyandlovu)
- Ward 14 (Jabavu, Masotsheni)
- Ward 15 (Hlathi-Dlamini, Hlathi-Hgudulwane)
- Ward 16 (Kwaluvisi, KwaNgedle)
- Ward 17 (Indindindi, Kwazicole)
- Ward 18 (Ohaleni, Mkhonjane)
- Ward 19 (Haladu, Ndatshana)
- Ward 20 (KwaMbunda, Ngolokodo)
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Nqutu, 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.