Ditsobotla fire, August 2021 Ramotshere Moiloa, Ditsobotla
The fire started on 28 August 2021 in Ditsobotla, South Africa, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,337 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 31th largest in North West since 2016 (of 171 with a page). Number 28 in South Africa in 2021, of 156.
- Burnt area
- 4,337ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 4days
- 28 Aug 2021 – 31 Aug 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 28 Aug
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 154
- in a single hotspot: 55 MW
- Danger at start
- 49
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.5GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.
What happened to each town
-
2,431 ha reached on 29 Aug0.3 %
-
Ditsobotla where it started1,929 ha reached on 28 Aug0.3 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
The weather day by day
ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
| Day | High | Min. humidity | Peak gust | Rain | Danger (FWI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Aug | 14.9 °C | 12 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 49 |
| 29 Aug | 18.7 °C | 11 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 30 Aug | 21.4 °C | 24 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 31 Aug | 27.7 °C | 5 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 1 Sept after | 29.1 °C | 6 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 2 Sept after | 25.7 °C | 31 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 45 |
| 3 Sept after | 29.0 °C | 18 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 4 Sept after | 26.3 °C | 25 % | 38 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 39 |
| 5 Sept after | 26.9 °C | 26 % | 45 km/h | 0.1 mm | Very high 48 |
| 6 Sept after | 26.5 °C | 24 % | 56 km/h | 0.2 mm | Extreme 51 |
| 7 Sept after | 25.5 °C | 19 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 47 |
| 8 Sept after | 17.8 °C | 64 % | 38 km/h | 0.9 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 9 Sept after | 24.4 °C | 31 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 28 |
| 10 Sept after | 24.0 °C | 33 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
Detections table · 154Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 3,446 haKgetlengrivierSeptember 2022 · 3 days · 19 km away
- 3,645 haRamotshere Moiloa16 September 2022 · 3 days · 23 km away
- 3,334 haRamotshere Moiloa22 August 2023 · 3 days · 27 km away
- 3,724 haKgetlengrivier8 September 2018 · 3 days · 31 km away
- 3,123 haRamotshere Moiloa15 September 2022 · 4 days · 40 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ditsobotla fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 28 August 2021 and 31 August 2021: 4 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 4,337 hectares (43.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ramotshere Moiloa (2,431 ha, 0.3 %); Ditsobotla (1,929 ha, 0.3 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 27.7 °C, humidity dropped to 5 % and gusts hit 55 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 49, class Very high.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of South Africa (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
Where to verify it
A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.
Emergency number: 10177 · 112
Satellite cross-check
Does something look wrong on this page?
This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.
Report an error
Where this data comes from
The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM3 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.