Free tools · Seen from space
Fire in uMhlathuze
Fire in the twelve months to October 2026: 224 fire detections seen from space; 36 ha burnt in the 7 of those months with burnt area out. The most since 2012: 2014, 749.
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
- 224Fire detectionsNovember 2025 to October 2026
- 36 haBurnt7 of the twelve months; the rest not out yet
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 4 fire detections |
| December 2025 | 2 fire detections |
| January 2026 | 6 fire detections |
| February 2026 | 12 fire detections |
| March 2026 | 9 fire detections |
| April 2026 | 1 fire detection |
| May 2026 | 42 fire detections |
| June 2026 | 20 fire detections |
| July 2026 | 23 fire detections |
| August 2026 | 48 fire detections |
| September 2026 | 37 fire detections |
| October 2026 | 20 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 | 7.1 ha burnt (0.006% 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 | 6.9 ha burnt (0.006% of the place) |
| May 2026 | 22 ha burnt (0.018% 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 | 20 | 20 | 15 | not out yet | · | · |
| September 2026 | 37 | 34 | 38 | not out yet | · | · |
| August 2026 | 48 | 46 | 61 | not out yet | · | · |
| July 2026 | 23 | 23 | 39 | not out yet | · | · |
| June 2026 | 20 | 19 | 23 | not out yet | · | · |
| May 2026 | 42 | 38 | 38 | 22 ha | 0.018% | 97% |
| April 2026 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6.9 ha | 0.006% | 97% |
| March 2026 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 97% |
| February 2026 | 12 | 11 | 17 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 97% |
| January 2026 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7.1 ha | 0.006% | 97% |
| December 2025 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 97% |
| November 2025 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0.0 ha | 0.000% | 97% |
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
- 2014749 fire detections, most in September 2014
- 2013668 fire detections, most in August 2013
- 2012661 fire detections, most in August 2012
By hectares burnt (whole years from 2019): 2019, 2,736 ha (2.2% of the place); 2024, 1,422 ha (1.2% of the place); 2023, 1,000 ha (0.81% of the place).
Every year since 2012
| Year | Fire detections | Burnt | Share of the place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (10 months) | 218 | 5 months out | · |
| 2025 | 161 | 422 ha | 0.34% |
| 2024 | 208 | 1,422 ha | 1.2% |
| 2023 | 225 | 1,000 ha | 0.81% |
| 2022 | 199 | 631 ha | 0.51% |
| 2021 | 212 | 744 ha | 0.61% |
| 2020 | 225 | 466 ha | 0.38% |
| 2019 | 386 | 2,736 ha | 2.2% |
| 2018 | 195 | 6 months out | · |
| 2017 | 408 | · | · |
| 2016 | 158 | · | · |
| 2015 | 364 | · | · |
| 2014 | 749 | · | · |
| 2013 | 668 | · | · |
| 2012 (11 months) | 661 | · | · |
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 (Meer en See)
- Ward 2 (Richards Bay, Alton)
- Ward 3 (Arboretum)
- Ward 4
- Ward 5
- Ward 6
- Ward 7 (Nseleni)
- Ward 8 (Nseleni)
- Ward 9 (Carsdale, Grantham Park)
- Ward 10
- Ward 11
- Ward 12 (Mandlankala)
- Ward 13 (Empernbeni, Gubhethuka)
- Ward 14 (Gobamdlovu, Sobamdlovu)
- Ward 15 (Ndindima)
- Ward 16 (Mkobosa)
- Ward 17 (Gobamdlovu, Mkobosa)
- Ward 18 (Mahunu, Nyembe)
- Ward 19 (Sikhalasenkosi, Port Durnford)
- Ward 20 (eSikhawini, Sikhalasenkosi)
- Ward 21 (eSikhawini)
- Ward 22 (Sikhalasenkosi)
- Ward 23 (Empangeni, Addison Park)
- Ward 24 (Dondolol)
- Ward 25 (Heatonville, Matshana)
- Ward 26 (Aquadene, Brackenham)
- Ward 27 (Ngwelezana)
- Ward 28 (Ngwelezana B)
- Ward 29 (Ndabayakhe, Nqutshini)
- Ward 30 (Vulindlela Township)
- Ward 31
- Ward 32
- Ward 33 (iSangogana, Ntambanana)
- Ward 34 (Empangeni Rail, Felixton)
- Ward 35 (Birdswood, Veld En Vlei)
- Ward 36
Places in each ward: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Everything we hold for uMhlathuze, 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.