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Wildfires in North Sumatra
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-12 08:29 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 18,660 km² of North Sumatra at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 2,600 km², ranking 13th of 33 regions of Indonesia.
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 2014, with 5,100 km² detected; the quietest was 2023, with 1,050 km². The 2021–2025 average is 60% lower than 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 51% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 12 February 2014, with detections in 345 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 18,660 km² with at least one detection, 24% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 10,020 | 54% |
| 2 years | 4,200 | 22% |
| 3 to 5 years | 3,860 | 21% |
| 6 to 10 years | 557 | 3.0% |
| 11 years or more | 16 | 0.1% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at 1.25, 99.75 and holds 9.1% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 3,990 | 4,592 |
| 2013 | 4,200 | 5,293 |
| 2014 | 5,100 | 8,627 |
| 2015 | 2,950 | 3,669 |
| 2016 | 4,480 | 5,642 |
| 2017 | 1,920 | 2,113 |
| 2018 | 2,150 | 2,295 |
| 2019 | 1,650 | 1,621 |
| 2020 | 1,610 | 1,594 |
| 2021 | 1,400 | 1,433 |
| 2022 | 1,620 | 1,524 |
| 2023 | 1,050 | 1,011 |
| 2024 | 1,370 | 1,275 |
| 2025 | 2,920 | 3,007 |
Other regions of Indonesia
- West Kalimantan14,970 km² in an average year
- East Nusa Tenggara10,660 km² in an average year
- Central Kalimantan9,650 km² in an average year
- Papua8,040 km² in an average year
- South Sumatra7,690 km² in an average year
- East Kalimantan7,270 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
- Riau175 km
- Selangor, Malaysia277 km
- Melaka, Malaysia299 km
- Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia324 km
- Perak, Malaysia351 km
- West Sumatra404 km