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Wildfires in North West
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-12 16:22 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 42,360 km² of North West at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 6,130 km², ranking 5th of 9 regions of South Africa.
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 2023, with 16,470 km² detected; the quietest was 2016, with 1,030 km². The 2021–2025 average is 143% higher 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.
July, August and September together hold 50% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 16 September 2023, with detections in 447 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 42,360 km² with at least one detection, 24% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 23,730 | 56% |
| 2 years | 8,290 | 20% |
| 3 to 5 years | 8,240 | 19% |
| 6 to 10 years | 2,010 | 4.7% |
| 11 years or more | 94 | 0.2% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -25.75, 27.75 and holds 17% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 6,310 | 9,242 |
| 2013 | 3,460 | 7,205 |
| 2014 | 4,030 | 7,700 |
| 2015 | 3,600 | 7,261 |
| 2016 | 1,030 | 3,955 |
| 2017 | 4,590 | 8,021 |
| 2018 | 6,920 | 10,477 |
| 2019 | 3,300 | 6,263 |
| 2020 | 7,680 | 10,095 |
| 2021 | 10,270 | 14,437 |
| 2022 | 8,960 | 12,690 |
| 2023 | 16,470 | 20,426 |
| 2024 | 4,510 | 7,163 |
| 2025 | 4,620 | 5,976 |
Other regions of South Africa
- KwaZulu-Natal21,840 km² in an average year
- Mpumalanga14,540 km² in an average year
- Eastern Cape12,280 km² in an average year
- Limpopo9,110 km² in an average year
- Gauteng4,600 km² in an average year
- Free State3,910 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
- Gauteng74 km
- Free State111 km
- Mpumalanga159 km
- Kgatleng, Botswana194 km
- Limpopo274 km
- Leribe, Lesotho337 km