AURSEEAursee
Wildfires in Western Highlands
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-12 10:27 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 3,450 km² of Western Highlands at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 672 km², ranking 9th 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 1,730 km² detected; the quietest was 2016, with 368 km². The 2021–2025 average is within 5% of 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 60% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 13 August 2015, with detections in 185 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 3,450 km² with at least one detection, 41% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 1,240 | 36% |
| 2 years | 805 | 23% |
| 3 to 5 years | 1,060 | 31% |
| 6 to 10 years | 290 | 8.4% |
| 11 years or more | 43 | 1.3% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -5.75, 144.25 and holds 49% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 582 | 546 |
| 2013 | 391 | 361 |
| 2014 | 432 | 405 |
| 2015 | 1,730 | 2,070 |
| 2016 | 368 | 345 |
| 2017 | 596 | 589 |
| 2018 | 650 | 647 |
| 2019 | 713 | 702 |
| 2020 | 536 | 498 |
| 2021 | 671 | 663 |
| 2022 | 1,030 | 1,088 |
| 2023 | 575 | 544 |
| 2024 | 496 | 480 |
| 2025 | 639 | 594 |
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
- Enga55 km
- Southern Highlands78 km
- Chimbu123 km
- Madang165 km
- Eastern Highlands174 km
- East Sepik175 km