Senqu fire, August 2017 Sakhisizwe, Senqu, Elundini
The fire started on 31 August 2017 in Senqu, South Africa, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,038 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 61th largest in Eastern Cape since 2016 (of 185 with a page). Number 52 in South Africa in 2017, of 128.
- Burnt area
- 4,038ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 31 Aug 2017 – 4 Sept 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- municipalities
- Started on
- 31 Aug
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 145
- in a single hotspot: 153 MW
- Danger at start
- 16
- Moderate · FWI index
- Energy released
- 2.1GW
- 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 one day 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
-
2,975 ha reached on 31 Aug1.3 %
-
Senqu where it started584 ha reached on 31 Aug0.1 %
-
488 ha reached on 31 Aug0.1 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Aug | 20.3 °C | 12 % | 59 km/h | 1.4 mm | Moderate 16 |
| 1 Sept | 10.7 °C | 51 % | 39 km/h | 0.0 mm | Low 11 |
| 2 Sept | 18.3 °C | 19 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 15 |
| 3 Sept | 19.0 °C | 21 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Moderate 17 |
| 4 Sept | 23.5 °C | 13 % | 48 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 5 Sept after | 22.9 °C | 8 % | 64 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 37 |
| 6 Sept after | 22.2 °C | 23 % | 53 km/h | 0.4 mm | High 27 |
| 7 Sept after | 25.2 °C | 5 % | 58 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 40 |
| 8 Sept after | 26.5 °C | 11 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 9 Sept after | 22.7 °C | 24 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 26 |
| 10 Sept after | 25.3 °C | 25 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 27 |
| 11 Sept after | 27.9 °C | 4 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 43 |
| 12 Sept after | 29.6 °C | 9 % | 56 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 46 |
| 13 Sept after | 29.4 °C | 8 % | 63 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 53 |
| 14 Sept after | 17.7 °C | 47 % | 34 km/h | 0.3 mm | Moderate 20 |
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 · 145Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 12,609 haSakhisizwe8 September 2020 · 8 days · 3 km away
- 6,351 haSakhisizwe17 September 2025 · 5 days · 7 km away
- 5,270 haElundini4 August 2026 · 3 days · 17 km away
- 6,928 haElundini18 August 2023 · 9 days · 23 km away
- 4,991 haElundini3 August 2026 · 4 days · 30 km away
- 6,072 haSenqu6 September 2022 · 4 days · 32 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Senqu fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 31 August 2017 and 4 September 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 4,038 hectares (40.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Sakhisizwe (2,975 ha, 1.3 %); Senqu (584 ha, 0.1 %); Elundini (488 ha, 0.1 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 23.5 °C, humidity dropped to 12 % and gusts hit 59 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 27, 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.