AURSEEAursee
Wildfires in California
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-11 10:26 UTC
Follow California: fire alerts by email
6 fires
Nothing matches.
Fire alerts for California
Free. One email when satellites detect fire anywhere in California, then at most one update a day while fires continue.
Free. Pick a town and we email you when satellites detect fire within 30 km of it.
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 96,900 km² of California at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 9,720 km², ranking 3rd of 51 regions of United States.
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 2020, with 24,220 km² detected; the quietest was 2019, with 6,300 km². The 2021–2025 average is 26% 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.
August, September and October together hold 59% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 9 September 2020, with detections in 3,222 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 96,900 km² with at least one detection, 7.9% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 73,590 | 76% |
| 2 years | 15,640 | 16% |
| 3 to 5 years | 6,660 | 6.9% |
| 6 to 10 years | 856 | 0.9% |
| 11 years or more | 159 | 0.2% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at 34.25, -118.75 and holds 3.4% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 6,670 | 16,784 |
| 2013 | 7,060 | 18,998 |
| 2014 | 6,520 | 17,677 |
| 2015 | 8,610 | 23,775 |
| 2016 | 7,300 | 17,426 |
| 2017 | 11,790 | 29,864 |
| 2018 | 11,990 | 31,637 |
| 2019 | 6,300 | 14,667 |
| 2020 | 24,220 | 71,424 |
| 2021 | 17,300 | 58,678 |
| 2022 | 6,450 | 16,467 |
| 2023 | 6,810 | 19,021 |
| 2024 | 7,600 | 18,219 |
| 2025 | 7,410 | 17,707 |
Other regions of United States
- Texas13,010 km² in an average year
- Georgia10,210 km² in an average year
- Florida8,510 km² in an average year
- Kansas6,780 km² in an average year
- Oklahoma6,770 km² in an average year
- Arkansas6,280 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
- Baja California, Mexico394 km
- Nevada425 km
- Utah733 km
- Arizona747 km
- Sonora, Mexico955 km
- Oregon1,058 km