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Wildfires in Wellington
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-11 10:26 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 491 km² of Wellington at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 40 km², ranking 12th of 17 regions of New Zealand.
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 2025, with 62 km² detected; the quietest was 2023, with 20 km². The 2021–2025 average is 5.0% higher 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 43% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 20 April 2015, with detections in 5 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 491 km² with at least one detection, 0.9% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 445 | 91% |
| 2 years | 42 | 8.6% |
| 3 to 5 years | 3.7 | 0.8% |
| 6 to 10 years | 0.0 | 0.0% |
| 11 years or more | 0.9 | 0.2% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -41.25, 175.25 and holds 35% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 33 | 35 |
| 2013 | 32 | 35 |
| 2014 | 35 | 39 |
| 2015 | 42 | 50 |
| 2016 | 47 | 56 |
| 2017 | 38 | 53 |
| 2018 | 36 | 41 |
| 2019 | 44 | 51 |
| 2020 | 51 | 74 |
| 2021 | 41 | 50 |
| 2022 | 35 | 40 |
| 2023 | 20 | 23 |
| 2024 | 40 | 49 |
| 2025 | 62 | 76 |
Other regions of New Zealand
- Canterbury627 km² in an average year
- Otago209 km² in an average year
- Southland169 km² in an average year
- Manawatū-Whanganui149 km² in an average year
- Waikato140 km² in an average year
- Northland137 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.