Phumelela fire, August 2017 Phumelela, Dannhauser
The fire started on 20 August 2017 in Phumelela, South Africa, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 9,524 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.
It is the 4th largest in Free State since 2016 (of 91 with a page). Number 16 in South Africa in 2017, of 128.
- Burnt area
- 9,524ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 20 Aug 2017 – 24 Aug 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 2
- municipalities
- Started on
- 20 Aug
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 285
- in a single hotspot: 41 MW
- Danger at start
- 20
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.8GW
- 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 2 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
-
Phumelela where it started9,341 ha reached on 20 Aug1.1 %
-
253 ha reached on 20 Aug0.2 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Aug | 14.9 °C | 25 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 20 |
| 21 Aug | 19.1 °C | 19 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 22 Aug | 20.2 °C | 9 % | 90 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 79 |
| 23 Aug | 16.9 °C | 9 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 50 |
| 24 Aug | 18.1 °C | 4 % | 52 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 25 Aug after | 17.0 °C | 17 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 44 |
| 26 Aug after | 17.2 °C | 27 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 27 Aug after | 17.9 °C | 25 % | 41 km/h | 0.8 mm | High 27 |
| 28 Aug after | 18.6 °C | 29 % | 28 km/h | 0.1 mm | High 25 |
| 29 Aug after | 20.6 °C | 34 % | 65 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very high 39 |
| 30 Aug after | 21.5 °C | 9 % | 50 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 50 |
| 31 Aug after | 22.1 °C | 18 % | 68 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 57 |
| 1 Sept after | 13.9 °C | 32 % | 40 km/h | 0.2 mm | High 36 |
| 2 Sept after | 15.6 °C | 31 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 3 Sept after | 19.1 °C | 14 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
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 · 285Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 4,172 haPhumelela4 September 2018 · 3 days · 6 km away
- 3,670 haPhumelelaSeptember 2021 · 6 days · 8 km away
- 4,848 haDannhauserSeptember 2019 · 5 days · 10 km away
- 4,084 haNewcastle9 September 2020 · 6 days · 18 km away
- 6,680 haAlfred DumaAugust 2026 · 3 days · 36 km away
- 3,636 haNewcastleAugust 2026 · 8 days · 37 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Phumelela fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 August 2017 and 24 August 2017: 5 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 9,524 hectares (95.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 2 municipalities: Phumelela (9,341 ha, 1.1 %); Dannhauser (253 ha, 0.2 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 20.2 °C, humidity dropped to 4 % and gusts hit 90 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 79, 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.