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Wildfires in New Zealand
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-11 09:22 UTC
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Regions
- Aucklandno fires now
- Bay of Plentyno fires now
- Canterbury2 fires
- Gisborne Districtno fires now
- Hawke's Bayno fires now
- Manawatū-Whanganuino fires now
- Marlborough Districtno fires now
- Northlandno fires now
- Otago1 fire
- Southland3 fires
- Taranakino fires now
- Tasman Districtno fires now
- Waikatono fires now
- Wellingtonno fires now
- West Coastno fires now
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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 2026-09-21
Between 2012 and 2025, VIIRS detected fire in 20,330 km² of New Zealand at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 1,880 km², ranking 104th of 200 countries.
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 2,390 km² detected; the quietest was 2023, with 1,430 km². The 2021–2025 average is 19% 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.
March, April and May together hold 41% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 9 March 2012, with detections in 79 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 20,330 km² with at least one detection, 5.5% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 16,190 | 80% |
| 2 years | 3,020 | 15% |
| 3 to 5 years | 1,050 | 5.2% |
| 6 to 10 years | 58 | 0.3% |
| 11 years or more | 9.7 | 0.0% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -43.75, 171.75 and holds 7.0% of the country's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 1,880 | 2,702 |
| 2013 | 2,070 | 2,932 |
| 2014 | 2,390 | 3,392 |
| 2015 | 2,150 | 2,986 |
| 2016 | 1,830 | 2,478 |
| 2017 | 1,590 | 2,101 |
| 2018 | 1,710 | 2,194 |
| 2019 | 2,310 | 2,984 |
| 2020 | 2,040 | 2,562 |
| 2021 | 1,930 | 2,476 |
| 2022 | 1,740 | 2,240 |
| 2023 | 1,430 | 1,777 |
| 2024 | 1,430 | 1,798 |
| 2025 | 1,790 | 2,303 |
Nearby countries
- Australia465,550 km² in an average year
- Papua New Guinea22,120 km² in an average year
- Fiji1,730 km² in an average year
- New Caledonia584 km² in an average year
- Solomon Islands167 km² in an average year
- Vanuatu132 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.
What sits behind each of these fires
Attached to every fire in the list above, and redrawn hourly.
