kanari

🇿🇦 South Africa: wildfires in October 2026

Unit: archived detection events, grouped by first-detection day and a roughly 11 km cell. One physical fire can span multiple records; hotspots can also be agricultural, industrial or urban. These counts are not a census of confirmed wildfires. The archive starts on August 3, 2026; the current month is incomplete.

South Africa, October 2026: 349 detection events archived over the covered period using kanari thresholds. Updated 15 November at 08:57.

Busiest day: 1 October, with 30 ignitions detected. +16% compared with September 2026.

349
archived events
0
still active
0
with verified witnesses
0
with aircraft observed
696
peak power (MW)
"In October 2026, kanari archived 349 detection events in South Africa, with 0 still active at the last update. This is not a count of distinct confirmed physical wildfires. Peak observed fire radiative power: 696 MW."
Source: kanari.io, NASA FIRMS, GOES and Meteosat MTG satellites plus AI-verified witness reports. Freely citable (CC BY 4.0).

Fire ignitions per day

012026-10-01: 30022026-10-02: 15032026-10-03: 3042026-10-04: 6052026-10-05: 15062026-10-06: 8072026-10-07: 11082026-10-08: 17092026-10-09: 15102026-10-10: 2112026-10-11: 3122026-10-12: 15132026-10-13: 12142026-10-14: 5152026-10-15: 15162026-10-16: 16172026-10-17: 5182026-10-18: 8192026-10-19: 4202026-10-20: 15212026-10-21: 14222026-10-22: 29232026-10-23: 3242026-10-24: 12252026-10-25: 9262026-10-26: 12272026-10-27: 7282026-10-28: 11292026-10-29: 17302026-10-30: 12312026-10-31: 3

Most powerful fires of the month

PlaceFirst detection (UTC)DetectionsMW
Maclear6 Oct, 07:3198696
Bochum22 Oct, 13:1286631
Vrede22 Oct, 08:30162606
Eendekuil3 Oct, 13:51111557
Wembesi29 Oct, 15:18224533
Bizana9 Oct, 06:40106415
Vrede8 Oct, 09:0172400
Vaalwater7 Oct, 09:0040387
Lichtenburg28 Oct, 10:4231383
Harrismith12 Oct, 08:5165330

Cite these figures

kanari (2026). Archived detection events, South Africa, October 2026: 349 records. https://kanari.io — accessed 2026-11-15.

Methodology: only significant fires are archived (corroborated by witnesses, or above detection and power thresholds); totals are not comparable to exhaustive official tallies. Full methodology and licence.

Download the data (CSV, CC BY 4.0) · See the live situation

Other countries

World · United States · Canada · Mexico · Brazil · Argentina · Chile · Bolivia · Peru · Colombia · Australia · New Zealand · Indonesia · Thailand · India · Russia · Kazakhstan · Mongolia · China · Turkey · Greece · Italy · Spain · Portugal · France · Croatia · Albania · North Macedonia · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Serbia · Bulgaria · Romania · Ukraine · Germany · United Kingdom · Sweden · Morocco · Algeria · Tunisia · Mozambique · Angola · DR Congo · Zambia · Tanzania · Kenya