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Wildfires in Matale

District of Sri Lanka

Wildfires in Matale

Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-12 08:29 UTC

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30 km around Dambulla, Matale, Sri Lanka

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 960 km² of Matale at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 150 km², ranking 13th of 25 regions of Sri Lanka.

150 km²detected in an average year
2016busiest year, 316 km²
2015quietest year, 82 km²
Septemberpeak month, 27% of fire-days

Year by year

2012: 206 km2'122013: 129 km2'132014: 193 km2'142015: 82 km2'152016: 316 km2'162017: 155 km2'172018: 103 km2'182019: 220 km2'192020: 160 km2'202021: 88 km2'212022: 92 km2'222023: 145 km2'232024: 113 km2'242025: 104 km2'25316 km2

Detected area per year, km². Area of 0.01° cells with at least one detection in the year.

The busiest year was 2016, with 316 km² detected; the quietest was 2015, with 82 km². The 2021–2025 average is 41% lower than the 2012–2016 average.

Through the year

January: 0.6%JFebruary: 1.7%FMarch: 10%MApril: 4.8%AMay: 2.8%MJune: 6.3%JJuly: 12%JAugust: 21%ASeptember: 27%SOctober: 13%ONovember: 0.4%NDecember: 0.0%D27%

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 61% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 11 October 2016, with detections in 19 cells.

Ground that burns again

Of the 960 km² with at least one detection, 30% had detections in three or more different years.

Years with a detectionkm²Share
1 year45147%
2 years22123%
3 to 5 years24125%
6 to 10 years485.0%
11 years or more0.00.0%

The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at 7.75, 80.75 and holds 94% of the region's fire-days.

The figures

Show the table
YearDetected km²Fire-days
2012206193
2013129129
2014193188
20158272
2016316347
2017155192
201810388
2019220214
2020160154
20218878
20229280
2023145138
202411398
2025104104

Other regions of Sri Lanka

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

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