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Wildfires in North Rhine-Westphalia
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-12 12:28 UTC
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Fire history, 2012–2025
Detected · VIIRS S-NPP 375 m · 0.01° cells (~1.1 km) · complete years 2012–2025 · built 2026-09-23
Between 2012 and 2025, VIIRS detected fire in 1,070 km² of North Rhine-Westphalia at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 172 km², ranking 2nd of 16 regions of Germany.
Year by year
Detected area per year, km². Area of 0.01° cells with at least one detection in the year.
The busiest year was 2019, with 230 km² detected; the quietest was 2021, with 128 km². The 2021–2025 average is within 5% of the 2012–2016 average.
Through the year
Share of all fire-days 2012–2025 by month. A fire-day is one cell with a detection on one day.
June, July and August together hold 35% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 22 April 2019, with detections in 67 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 1,070 km² with at least one detection, 16% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 766 | 71% |
| 2 years | 130 | 12% |
| 3 to 5 years | 80 | 7.5% |
| 6 to 10 years | 35 | 3.3% |
| 11 years or more | 61 | 5.7% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at 51.25, 6.75 and holds 61% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 162 | 3,312 |
| 2013 | 179 | 3,412 |
| 2014 | 150 | 3,843 |
| 2015 | 153 | 3,745 |
| 2016 | 164 | 3,762 |
| 2017 | 152 | 3,568 |
| 2018 | 221 | 4,543 |
| 2019 | 230 | 3,950 |
| 2020 | 205 | 3,724 |
| 2021 | 128 | 3,247 |
| 2022 | 187 | 3,872 |
| 2023 | 157 | 3,068 |
| 2024 | 135 | 2,458 |
| 2025 | 186 | 3,319 |
Other regions of Germany
- Bavaria230 km² in an average year
- Lower Saxony131 km² in an average year
- Brandenburg116 km² in an average year
- Saxony-Anhalt112 km² in an average year
- Baden-Württemberg105 km² in an average year
- Saxony70 km² in an average year
- How these figures are madeDetected area, cells, and the single-satellite record.
Detected area counts every 0.01° cell with at least one VIIRS detection, so a small fire counts as a whole cell and a fire missed by cloud or between passes is absent. Borders: Natural Earth 1:10m. 2012 begins on 20 January.
Nearby regions
- Liège, Belgium89 km
- Limburg, Netherlands89 km
- Antwerp, Belgium173 km
- North Holland, Netherlands176 km
- Luxembourg, Luxembourg181 km
- South Holland, Netherlands181 km