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Fire in Polokwane
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 1,610 fire detections seen from space; 19 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2025, 2,370.
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
- 1,610Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 19 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 2 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 2 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 0 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 8 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 1 fire detection |
| April 2026 | 2 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 6 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 74 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 632 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 397 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 225 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 261 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 | 19 ha burnt (0.004% 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 | 261 | 191 | 304 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 225 | 211 | 233 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 397 | 357 | 628 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 632 | 596 | 800 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 74 | 70 | 101 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 19 ha | 0.004% | 100% |
| April 2026 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| March 2026 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| February 2026 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| January 2026 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| December 2025 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 100% |
| November 2025 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 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
- 20252,370 fire detections, most in August 2025; 36,428 ha burnt
- 20221,942 fire detections, most in August 2022; 30,744 ha burnt
- 20231,904 fire detections, most in August 2023; 29,293 ha burnt
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2025, 36,428 ha (7.2% of the place); 2022, 30,744 ha (6.1% of the place); 2023, 29,293 ha (5.8% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 1,606 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 2,370 | 36,428 ha | 7.2% |
| 2024 | 904 | 16,336 ha | 3.2% |
| 2023 | 1,904 | 29,293 ha | 5.8% |
| 2022 | 1,942 | 30,744 ha | 6.1% |
| 2021 | 1,359 | 19,496 ha | 3.9% |
| 2020 | 488 | 7,078 ha | 1.4% |
| 2019 | 426 | 2,740 ha | 0.54% |
| 2018 | 1,082 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 374 | · | · |
| 2016 | 291 | · | · |
| 2015 | 910 | · | · |
| 2014 | 1,588 | · | · |
| 2013 | 933 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 711 | · | · |
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 (Chuenespoort)
- Ward 2
- Ward 3 (Makatiane)
- Ward 4 (Ga-Molepo, Moria)
- Ward 5 (Laaste Hoop)
- Ward 6
- Ward 7
- Ward 8 (New Pietersburg, Westernburg)
- Ward 9 (Chebeng, Ga-Makweya)
- Ward 10 (Blood River)
- Ward 11
- Ward 12 (Seshego)
- Ward 13 (Seshego)
- Ward 14 (New Pietersburg, Seshego)
- Ward 15
- Ward 16 (Perskebult)
- Ward 17 (Seshego)
- Ward 18 (Koloti)
- Ward 19 (Ivy Park, Nirvana)
- Ward 20 (Faunapark)
- Ward 21 (Bendor Park, Sterpark)
- Ward 22 (Penina Park)
- Ward 23 (Annadale, New Pietersburg)
- Ward 24
- Ward 25 (Mankweng)
- Ward 26
- Ward 27
- Ward 28
- Ward 29 (Ntsima)
- Ward 30 (Houtbosdorp)
- Ward 31
- Ward 32 (Sebayeng)
- Ward 33
- Ward 34
- Ward 35 (Monywaneng, Ramakgaphola)
- Ward 36 (Ga-Mabotsa)
- Ward 37 (Seshego, Blood River)
- Ward 38 (Ga-Semenya)
- Ward 39 (Polokwane, Eduanpark)
- Ward 40 (Ga-Madiba, Ga-Mashashane)
- Ward 41 (Diana, Ga-Mapangula)
- Ward 42 (Ga-Kgoroshi, Ga-Setshaba)
- Ward 43 (Ga-Mohoai, Ga-Selolo)
- Ward 44 (Ga-Ramokadi-Kadi, Juno)
- Ward 45 (Ga-Mmabasotho, Ga-Ramoshwane)
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Polokwane, 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.