AURSEEAursee
Wildfires in Matabeleland South
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-12 09:19 UTC
Follow Matabeleland South: fire alerts by email
Fire alerts for Matabeleland South
Free. One email when satellites detect fire anywhere in Matabeleland South, 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 11,750 km² of Matabeleland South at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 1,680 km², ranking 8th of 10 regions of Zimbabwe.
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 2018, with 3,340 km² detected; the quietest was 2020, with 317 km². The 2021–2025 average is 49% 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 78% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 11 October 2015, with detections in 225 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 11,750 km² with at least one detection, 26% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 6,060 | 52% |
| 2 years | 2,650 | 23% |
| 3 to 5 years | 2,640 | 22% |
| 6 to 10 years | 400 | 3.4% |
| 11 years or more | 2.4 | 0.0% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -20.25, 29.25 and holds 20% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 1,240 | 1,271 |
| 2013 | 734 | 769 |
| 2014 | 1,660 | 1,668 |
| 2015 | 2,820 | 2,877 |
| 2016 | 633 | 612 |
| 2017 | 1,310 | 1,283 |
| 2018 | 3,340 | 3,640 |
| 2019 | 931 | 955 |
| 2020 | 317 | 287 |
| 2021 | 1,670 | 1,651 |
| 2022 | 3,290 | 3,474 |
| 2023 | 3,140 | 3,319 |
| 2024 | 1,010 | 1,052 |
| 2025 | 1,420 | 1,405 |
Other regions of Zimbabwe
- Mashonaland West20,090 km² in an average year
- Mashonaland Central10,300 km² in an average year
- Mashonaland East8,040 km² in an average year
- Matabeleland North5,610 km² in an average year
- Midlands5,340 km² in an average year
- Manicaland4,900 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
- Bulawayo52 km
- Midlands152 km
- North-East, Botswana191 km
- Masvingo208 km
- Mashonaland East305 km
- Harare348 km