AURSEEAursee
Wildfires in Chimbu
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 1,540 km² of Chimbu at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 325 km², ranking 13th of 20 regions of Papua New Guinea.
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 2015, with 942 km² detected; the quietest was 2013, with 150 km². The 2021–2025 average is 6.8% 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.
August, September and October together hold 51% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 11 August 2015, with detections in 76 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 1,540 km² with at least one detection, 44% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 556 | 36% |
| 2 years | 306 | 20% |
| 3 to 5 years | 483 | 31% |
| 6 to 10 years | 165 | 11% |
| 11 years or more | 30 | 1.9% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -6.25, 145.25 and holds 68% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 275 | 284 |
| 2013 | 150 | 151 |
| 2014 | 201 | 197 |
| 2015 | 942 | 1,180 |
| 2016 | 160 | 158 |
| 2017 | 304 | 330 |
| 2018 | 308 | 320 |
| 2019 | 347 | 360 |
| 2020 | 253 | 251 |
| 2021 | 342 | 358 |
| 2022 | 460 | 494 |
| 2023 | 258 | 248 |
| 2024 | 293 | 300 |
| 2025 | 258 | 259 |
Other regions of Papua New Guinea
- Western4,740 km² in an average year
- East Sepik2,660 km² in an average year
- Morobe2,640 km² in an average year
- Central2,380 km² in an average year
- Madang2,180 km² in an average year
- Eastern Highlands1,570 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
- Eastern Highlands55 km
- Madang78 km
- Morobe110 km
- Western Highlands123 km
- Southern Highlands165 km
- Enga174 km