AURSEEAursee
Wildfires in Western Area
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-11 09:22 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 543 km² of Western Area at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 221 km², ranking 4th of 4 regions of Sierra Leone.
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 2022, with 261 km² detected; the quietest was 2021, with 189 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.
February, March and April together hold 70% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 29 January 2016, with detections in 49 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 543 km² with at least one detection, 80% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 59 | 11% |
| 2 years | 52 | 9.5% |
| 3 to 5 years | 158 | 29% |
| 6 to 10 years | 234 | 43% |
| 11 years or more | 40 | 7.4% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at 8.25, -13.25 and holds 81% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 200 | 247 |
| 2013 | 211 | 274 |
| 2014 | 254 | 332 |
| 2015 | 229 | 306 |
| 2016 | 218 | 273 |
| 2017 | 208 | 248 |
| 2018 | 254 | 336 |
| 2019 | 250 | 355 |
| 2020 | 200 | 249 |
| 2021 | 189 | 259 |
| 2022 | 261 | 409 |
| 2023 | 194 | 228 |
| 2024 | 232 | 289 |
| 2025 | 197 | 233 |
Other regions of Sierra Leone
- Northern24,690 km² in an average year
- Southern9,440 km² in an average year
- Eastern8,740 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
- Southern165 km
- Coyah Prefecture, Guinea166 km
- Forécariah Prefecture, Guinea175 km
- Eastern220 km
- Dubréka Prefecture, Guinea222 km
- Kindia, Guinea229 km