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Wildfires in Northern
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 65,540 km² of Northern at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 43,770 km², ranking 5th of 10 regions of Zambia.
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 2025, with 48,060 km² detected; the quietest was 2018, with 41,380 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.
August, September and October together hold 77% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 30 August 2021, with detections in 1,956 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 65,540 km² with at least one detection, 98% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 487 | 0.7% |
| 2 years | 672 | 1.0% |
| 3 to 5 years | 5,080 | 7.8% |
| 6 to 10 years | 34,280 | 52% |
| 11 years or more | 25,020 | 38% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -9.25, 31.25 and holds 5.6% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 44,030 | 53,251 |
| 2013 | 44,350 | 53,871 |
| 2014 | 41,550 | 49,204 |
| 2015 | 45,430 | 56,341 |
| 2016 | 46,410 | 58,626 |
| 2017 | 44,590 | 54,670 |
| 2018 | 41,380 | 49,168 |
| 2019 | 45,110 | 56,383 |
| 2020 | 42,150 | 51,454 |
| 2021 | 43,140 | 52,509 |
| 2022 | 41,510 | 50,848 |
| 2023 | 42,360 | 51,668 |
| 2024 | 42,640 | 52,061 |
| 2025 | 48,060 | 63,191 |
Other regions of Zambia
- Northwestern82,900 km² in an average year
- Western77,200 km² in an average year
- Central59,410 km² in an average year
- Muchinga59,070 km² in an average year
- Luapula32,860 km² in an average year
- Southern31,690 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
- Muchinga78 km
- Rukwa, Tanzania229 km
- Mbeya, Tanzania234 km
- Katavi, Tanzania277 km
- Chitipa, Malawi295 km
- Rumphi, Malawi320 km