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Drakenstein fire, December 2017 Drakenstein, Witzenberg, Breede Valley

Out · last detection 12 Dec 2017, 00:26 UTC

The fire started on 9 December 2017 in Drakenstein, South Africa, and satellites saw it burning for 4 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,725 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 102th largest in Western Cape since 2016 (of 164 with a page). Number 57 in South Africa in 2017, of 128.

Burnt area
3,725ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
4days
9 Dec 2017 – 12 Dec 2017
Municipalities hit
3
municipalities
Started on
9 Dec
2017
Heat detections
146
in a single hotspot: 101 MW
Danger at start
33
High · FWI index
Energy released
2.5GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

12 Dec 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 9 Dec12 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

9101112

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

32°high
65km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

It had gone 16 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

  1. Drakenstein where it started
    2,890 ha reached on 9 Dec
    1.9 %
  2. Witzenberg
    850 ha reached on 9 Dec
    0.1 %
  3. Breede Valley
    1 ha
    0.0 %

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)
9 Dec 28.1 °C 32 % 65 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
10 Dec 31.3 °C 16 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
11 Dec 31.5 °C 18 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
12 Dec 27.6 °C 25 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
13 Dec after 19.8 °C 51 % 44 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 18
14 Dec after 28.7 °C 23 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
15 Dec after 34.3 °C 17 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
16 Dec after 30.7 °C 29 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
17 Dec after 29.2 °C 34 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
18 Dec after 26.6 °C 32 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
19 Dec after 32.4 °C 15 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
20 Dec after 36.5 °C 9 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 39
21 Dec after 31.1 °C 32 % 38 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
22 Dec after 28.9 °C 32 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 31

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 2 Dec 2017
After · 19 Dec 2017

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 · 146Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in South Africa ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Drakenstein fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 December 2017 and 12 December 2017: 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 3,725 hectares (37.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Drakenstein (2,890 ha, 1.9 %); Witzenberg (850 ha, 0.1 %); Breede Valley (1 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.5 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 65 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 33, class 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
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 10177 · 112.

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.