Ditsobotla fire, September 2023 City of Matlosana, Tswaing, Ditsobotla
The fire started on 3 September 2023 in Ditsobotla, South Africa, and satellites saw it burning for 2 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,143 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 17th largest in North West since 2016 (of 171 with a page). Number 21 in South Africa in 2023, of 150.
- Burnt area
- 6,143ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 2days
- 3 Sept 2023 – 4 Sept 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 3 Sept
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 219
- in a single hotspot: 345 MW
- Danger at start
- 72
- Very extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 11.8GW
- 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 43 days 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
-
4,620 ha reached on 3 Sept1.3 %
-
1,499 ha reached on 3 Sept0.2 %
-
Ditsobotla where it started43 ha reached on 3 Sept0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Sept | 29.2 °C | 12 % | 67 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 72 |
| 4 Sept | 30.4 °C | 10 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 5 Sept after | 29.0 °C | 14 % | 55 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 6 Sept after | 24.2 °C | 7 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 7 Sept after | 25.9 °C | 6 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 8 Sept after | 29.5 °C | 4 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 9 Sept after | 31.8 °C | 11 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 10 Sept after | 31.4 °C | 12 % | 54 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 72 |
| 11 Sept after | 19.5 °C | 23 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 12 Sept after | 19.0 °C | 27 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 13 Sept after | 21.0 °C | 32 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 14 Sept after | 24.6 °C | 22 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
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 · 219Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 2,385 haCity of MatlosanaSeptember 2023 · 1 day · 24 km away
- 2,314 haCity of MatlosanaSeptember 2018 · 1 day · 24 km away
- 2,860 haCity of MatlosanaAugust 2022 · 1 day · 25 km away
- 3,880 haCity of MatlosanaAugust 2023 · 2 days · 28 km away
- 3,576 haDitsobotlaSeptember 2021 · 1 day · 28 km away
- 5,283 haMaquassi HillsSeptember 2023 · 1 day · 36 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Ditsobotla fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 3 September 2023 and 4 September 2023: 2 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 6,143 hectares (61.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: City of Matlosana (4,620 ha, 1.3 %); Tswaing (1,499 ha, 0.2 %); Ditsobotla (43 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 30.4 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 67 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 72, class Very extreme.
- 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.