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Wildfires in Western
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 27,070 km² of Western at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 4,740 km², ranking 1st 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 18,190 km² detected; the quietest was 2025, with 417 km². The 2021–2025 average is 63% 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.
September, October and November together hold 84% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 21 October 2015, with detections in 1,335 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 27,070 km² with at least one detection, 37% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 11,520 | 43% |
| 2 years | 5,440 | 20% |
| 3 to 5 years | 8,110 | 30% |
| 6 to 10 years | 1,960 | 7.3% |
| 11 years or more | 28 | 0.1% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -8.75, 141.25 and holds 17% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 4,060 | 4,180 |
| 2013 | 2,590 | 2,460 |
| 2014 | 8,280 | 9,586 |
| 2015 | 18,190 | 28,405 |
| 2016 | 1,910 | 1,805 |
| 2017 | 1,850 | 1,691 |
| 2018 | 9,420 | 11,810 |
| 2019 | 5,290 | 5,811 |
| 2020 | 1,960 | 1,847 |
| 2021 | 1,110 | 1,015 |
| 2022 | 1,030 | 903 |
| 2023 | 8,330 | 9,986 |
| 2024 | 1,960 | 1,857 |
| 2025 | 417 | 358 |
Other regions of Papua New Guinea
- 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
- Oro1,300 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
- Papua, Indonesia54 km
- Southern Highlands391 km
- Enga432 km
- Queensland, Australia457 km
- Western Highlands469 km
- Chimbu521 km