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Wildfires in West Coast
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 177 km² of West Coast at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 15 km², ranking 14th 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 2013, with 28 km² detected; the quietest was 2024, with 2.7 km². The 2021–2025 average is 37% 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 76% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 15 February 2014, with detections in 6 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 177 km² with at least one detection, 4.1% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 151 | 85% |
| 2 years | 18 | 10% |
| 3 to 5 years | 7.3 | 4.1% |
| 6 to 10 years | 0.0 | 0.0% |
| 11 years or more | 0.0 | 0.0% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -42.25, 171.75 and holds 34% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 16 | 21 |
| 2013 | 28 | 33 |
| 2014 | 20 | 30 |
| 2015 | 26 | 34 |
| 2016 | 11 | 20 |
| 2017 | 12 | 15 |
| 2018 | 6.4 | 7 |
| 2019 | 12 | 13 |
| 2020 | 16 | 27 |
| 2021 | 16 | 21 |
| 2022 | 26 | 32 |
| 2023 | 12 | 16 |
| 2024 | 2.7 | 3 |
| 2025 | 7.3 | 8 |
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.