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Wildfires in Polonnaruwa
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 1,870 km² of Polonnaruwa at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 364 km², ranking 5th of 25 regions of Sri Lanka.
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 2016, with 724 km² detected; the quietest was 2022, with 110 km². The 2021–2025 average is 54% 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.
August, September and October together hold 68% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 6 April 2019, with detections in 94 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 1,870 km² with at least one detection, 45% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 562 | 30% |
| 2 years | 465 | 25% |
| 3 to 5 years | 681 | 37% |
| 6 to 10 years | 157 | 8.4% |
| 11 years or more | 0.0 | 0.0% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at 7.75, 81.25 and holds 45% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 556 | 531 |
| 2013 | 611 | 659 |
| 2014 | 379 | 365 |
| 2015 | 160 | 159 |
| 2016 | 724 | 771 |
| 2017 | 236 | 216 |
| 2018 | 238 | 239 |
| 2019 | 600 | 698 |
| 2020 | 475 | 520 |
| 2021 | 125 | 116 |
| 2022 | 110 | 100 |
| 2023 | 288 | 278 |
| 2024 | 237 | 231 |
| 2025 | 362 | 335 |
Other regions of Sri Lanka
- Anuradhapura1,160 km² in an average year
- Monaragala678 km² in an average year
- Ampara633 km² in an average year
- Badulla426 km² in an average year
- Kurunegala353 km² in an average year
- Vavuniya260 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
- Batticaloa0 km
- Matale55 km
- Badulla55 km
- Trincomalee55 km
- Anuradhapura78 km
- Ampara78 km