Hessequa fire, January 2021 Swellendam, Hessequa
The fire started on 25 January 2021 in Hessequa, South Africa, and satellites saw it burning for 13 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 12,215 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 25th largest in Western Cape since 2016 (of 164 with a page). Number 5 in South Africa in 2021, of 156.
- Burnt area
- 12,215ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 13days
- 25 Jan 2021 – 6 Feb 2021
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 25 Jan
- 2021
- Heat detections
- 597
- in a single hotspot: 1,563 MW
- Danger at start
- 20
- Moderate · 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 0 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 7.0 mm on 12 Feb.
This area had burned before
0% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1 ha in 2017.
What happened to each town
-
10,142 ha reached on 25 Jan2.6 %
-
Hessequa where it started2,084 ha reached on 25 Jan0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Jan | 25.1 °C | 30 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 26 Jan | 23.3 °C | 40 % | 52 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 21 |
| 27 Jan | 17.3 °C | 55 % | 51 km/h | 1.7 mm | Low 6 |
| 28 Jan | 22.4 °C | 26 % | 43 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 29 Jan | 23.4 °C | 28 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 30 Jan | 24.4 °C | 33 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 31 Jan | 27.2 °C | 26 % | 63 km/h | 1.5 mm | High 23 |
| 1 Feb | 17.3 °C | 43 % | 48 km/h | 4.3 mm | Very low 4 |
| 2 Feb | 28.2 °C | 22 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 3 Feb | 23.8 °C | 38 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 18 |
| 4 Feb | 22.8 °C | 27 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 5 Feb | 25.4 °C | 37 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 6 Feb | 26.2 °C | 30 % | 45 km/h | 0.5 mm | High 22 |
| 7 Feb after | 19.0 °C | 55 % | 46 km/h | 0.9 mm | Low 10 |
| 8 Feb after | 23.9 °C | 36 % | 44 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 9 Feb after | 25.9 °C | 34 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 21 |
| 10 Feb after | 26.4 °C | 37 % | 46 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 11 Feb after | 28.4 °C | 36 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 12 Feb after | 26.9 °C | 42 % | 41 km/h | 7.0 mm | Very low 4 |
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 · 597Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Hessequa fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 January 2021 and 6 February 2021: 13 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 12,215 hectares (122.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Swellendam (10,142 ha, 2.6 %); Hessequa (2,084 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 28.2 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 63 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 23, 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
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.