Newcastle fire, August 2026 Newcastle, Phumelela
The fire started on 18 August 2026 in Newcastle, South Africa, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,636 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 44th largest in KwaZulu-Natal since 2016 (of 171 with a page). Number 50 in South Africa in 2026, of 147.
- Burnt area
- 3,636ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 18 Aug 2026 – 25 Aug 2026
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 18 Aug
- 2026
- Heat detections
- 78
- in a single hotspot: 71 MW
- Danger at start
- 12
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 874MW
- 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 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.2 mm on 27 Aug.
This area had burned before
67% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 464 ha in 2016, 191 ha in 2017, 760 ha in 2019, 414 ha in 2020, 1,172 ha in 2021, 120 ha in 2024, 953 ha in 2025. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 2,418 ha that had burned before.
- 953 ha Newcastle fire, September 2025 2,695 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 760 ha Newcastle fire, September 2019 3,256 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 191 ha Newcastle fire, October 2017 3,376 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 120 ha Newcastle fire, August 2024 2,650 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 59 ha Newcastle fire, September 2020 2,138 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Newcastle where it started3,286 ha reached on 18 Aug1.8 %
-
366 ha reached on 21 Aug0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Aug | 23.4 °C | 23 % | 20 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 12 |
| 19 Aug | 24.7 °C | 24 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 20 Aug | 25.1 °C | 19 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 21 Aug | 23.9 °C | 22 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 22 Aug | 24.7 °C | 19 % | 47 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 24 |
| 23 Aug | 16.8 °C | 41 % | 31 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 24 Aug | 21.2 °C | 27 % | 23 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 25 Aug | 23.9 °C | 15 % | 25 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 26 Aug after | 16.4 °C | 54 % | 33 km/h | 0.1 mm | Moderate 14 |
| 27 Aug after | 19.5 °C | 48 % | 24 km/h | 1.2 mm | Low 5 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 26 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 86 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 43: 2.9 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 78Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 4,084 haNewcastle9 September 2020 · 6 days · 19 km away
- 4,340 haNewcastle19 September 2019 · 4 days · 23 km away
- 12,089 haPhumelela24 September 2024 · 3 days · 27 km away
- 4,848 haDannhauserSeptember 2019 · 5 days · 29 km away
- 4,947 haNewcastleSeptember 2018 · 3 days · 30 km away
- 9,524 haPhumelelaAugust 2017 · 5 days · 37 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Newcastle fire last?
- According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 18 August 2026 to 25 August 2026 (8 days). The perimeter dates it from 22 August 2026 to 25 August 2026.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 3,636 hectares (36.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Newcastle (3,286 ha, 1.8 %); Phumelela (366 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 25.1 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 47 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 24, 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.