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Fire in Rustenburg
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 1,324 fire detections seen from space; 372 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2020, 1,793.
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
- 1,324Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 372 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 3 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 3 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 3 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 16 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 1 fire detection |
| April 2026 | 6 fire detections |
| May 2026 | 17 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 152 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 569 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 301 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 96 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 157 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 | 23 ha burnt (0.007% of the place) |
| February 2026 | 55 ha burnt (0.016% of the place) |
| March 2026 | 0.0 ha burnt (0.000% of the place) |
| April 2026 | 40 ha burnt (0.012% of the place) |
| May 2026 | 254 ha burnt (0.075% 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 | 157 | 134 | 148 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 96 | 90 | 83 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 301 | 276 | 318 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 569 | 538 | 794 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 152 | 144 | 147 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 17 | 16 | 28 | 254 ha | 0.075% | 99% |
| April 2026 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 40 ha | 0.012% | 99% |
| March 2026 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 99% |
| February 2026 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 55 ha | 0.016% | 99% |
| January 2026 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 23 ha | 0.007% | 99% |
| December 2025 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 99% |
| November 2025 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 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
- 20201,793 fire detections, most in July 2020; 24,343 ha burnt
- 20231,787 fire detections, most in August 2023; 24,281 ha burnt
- 20211,736 fire detections, most in September 2021; 30,714 ha burnt
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2021, 30,714 ha (9.0% of the place); 2020, 24,343 ha (7.2% of the place); 2023, 24,281 ha (7.1% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 1,318 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 701 | 7,437 ha | 2.2% |
| 2024 | 1,170 | 22,571 ha | 6.6% |
| 2023 | 1,787 | 24,281 ha | 7.1% |
| 2022 | 927 | 12,443 ha | 3.7% |
| 2021 | 1,736 | 30,714 ha | 9.0% |
| 2020 | 1,793 | 24,343 ha | 7.2% |
| 2019 | 701 | 8,063 ha | 2.4% |
| 2018 | 1,353 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 953 | · | · |
| 2016 | 206 | · | · |
| 2015 | 897 | · | · |
| 2014 | 958 | · | · |
| 2013 | 1,157 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 1,274 | · | · |
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 (Phatsima, Boshoek)
- Ward 2 (Chaneng, Robega)
- Ward 3 (Mogono, Rasimone)
- Ward 4 (Ga-Luka, Pudunong)
- Ward 5 (Lemenong, Lenotong)
- Ward 6 (Phokeng, Dithabaneng)
- Ward 7 (Bobuampsa, Ga-Kgale)
- Ward 8 (Tlhabane West, Geelhoutpark)
- Ward 9 (Tlhabane West)
- Ward 10 (Tlhabane)
- Ward 11 (Tlhabane, Zinniaville)
- Ward 12 (Rolihlahla)
- Ward 13 (Rustenburg North)
- Ward 14 (Cashan, Proteapark)
- Ward 15 (Safari Gardens)
- Ward 16 (Geelhoutpark)
- Ward 17 (Safari Gardens, Cashan)
- Ward 18 (Rustenburg)
- Ward 19 (Paardekraal)
- Ward 20 (Radintsha)
- Ward 21
- Ward 22 (Paardekraal)
- Ward 23 (Chachalaza, Kana)
- Ward 24 (Freedom Park)
- Ward 25 (Diepkuil, Monnakato)
- Ward 26 (Ga-Mogajane, Lesung)
- Ward 27 (Hartbeesfontein, Lethabong)
- Ward 28 (Haartbeesfontein)
- Ward 29 (Berseba, Makolokwe)
- Ward 30 (Bethanie, Modikwe)
- Ward 31 (Marikana)
- Ward 32 (Marikana West, Wigwam)
- Ward 33 (Paardekraal, Rolihlahla)
- Ward 34 (Entabeni, Nkaneng)
- Ward 35
- Ward 36 (Mathopestad)
- Ward 37
- Ward 38 (Wildebeesfontein)
- Ward 39 (Paardekraal, Zinniaville)
- Ward 40 (Rolihlahla)
- Ward 41
- Ward 42 (Kroondal)
- Ward 43 (Zinniaville)
- Ward 44 (Lekgalong, Mabitse)
- Ward 45 (Mfidike, Photsaneng)
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for Rustenburg, 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.