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Wildfires in Rift Valley
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 33,100 km² of Rift Valley at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 4,780 km², ranking 1st of 8 regions of Kenya.
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 2013, with 6,950 km² detected; the quietest was 2024, with 3,110 km². The 2021–2025 average is 13% 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.
January, February and March together hold 70% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 9 March 2015, with detections in 353 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 33,100 km² with at least one detection, 25% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 17,860 | 54% |
| 2 years | 6,830 | 21% |
| 3 to 5 years | 6,980 | 21% |
| 6 to 10 years | 1,410 | 4.3% |
| 11 years or more | 21 | 0.1% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -0.25, 35.75 and holds 6.3% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 5,120 | 4,984 |
| 2013 | 6,950 | 6,677 |
| 2014 | 4,550 | 4,504 |
| 2015 | 6,170 | 7,548 |
| 2016 | 3,900 | 4,048 |
| 2017 | 4,110 | 4,669 |
| 2018 | 4,240 | 4,103 |
| 2019 | 5,230 | 5,389 |
| 2020 | 3,430 | 3,195 |
| 2021 | 6,820 | 6,741 |
| 2022 | 3,440 | 3,419 |
| 2023 | 3,680 | 3,898 |
| 2024 | 3,110 | 3,178 |
| 2025 | 6,200 | 6,408 |
Other regions of Kenya
- Coast3,290 km² in an average year
- Eastern2,800 km² in an average year
- North Eastern831 km² in an average year
- Nyanza639 km² in an average year
- Central335 km² in an average year
- Western310 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
- Central111 km
- Nyanza175 km
- Western175 km
- Kween, Uganda200 km
- Bukwo, Uganda200 km
- Bulambuli, Uganda235 km