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Active fires around the world

Fire activity detected by NASA satellites over the past 24 hours, from the Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS). Each mark is a cluster of thermal detections — most are vegetation fires, and the biggest are what put smoke and haze into the sky across whole regions.

83,656 satellite fire detections in the past 24 hours, concentrated in 120 areas.

Where they are burning

areas of fire activity, past 24 h (NASA VIIRS detections; ring size follows intensity) Natural Earth · NASA FIRMS

Most intense fire activity

  1. 31,030 MW Russia 3,227 detections · 66.2°N, 119.1°E
  2. 11,725 MW Near Kinshasa 743 detections
  3. 9,112 MW Mozambique 798 detections · 17.0°S, 36.0°E
  4. 8,566 MW DR Congo 405 detections · 5.0°S, 28.8°E
  5. 8,423 MW DR Congo 268 detections · 8.0°S, 25.9°E
  6. 7,918 MW Zambia 420 detections · 10.9°S, 31.0°E
  7. 7,794 MW Russia 766 detections · 66.0°N, 118.1°E
  8. 7,606 MW Russia 2,717 detections · 64.8°N, 115.9°E
  9. 7,390 MW Angola 369 detections · 8.1°S, 16.1°E
  10. 6,111 MW Mozambique 658 detections · 15.1°S, 38.0°E
  11. 6,030 MW Near Kinshasa 378 detections
  12. 5,903 MW Zambia 634 detections · 10.9°S, 29.1°E
  13. 5,569 MW Zambia 368 detections · 10.0°S, 29.9°E
  14. 5,228 MW Zambia 403 detections · 14.0°S, 24.1°E
  15. 4,951 MW Mozambique 564 detections · 17.0°S, 36.9°E
  16. 4,849 MW Near Kinshasa 383 detections
  17. 4,765 MW Mozambique 448 detections · 13.1°S, 37.9°E
  18. 4,571 MW Mozambique 430 detections · 19.0°S, 33.9°E
  19. 4,239 MW Angola 275 detections · 11.9°S, 19.0°E
  20. 4,058 MW DR Congo 264 detections · 6.0°S, 28.0°E
  21. 4,055 MW Near Kinshasa 328 detections
  22. 4,020 MW Mozambique 494 detections · 14.1°S, 37.0°E
  23. 3,800 MW Near Kinshasa 251 detections
  24. 3,791 MW DR Congo 179 detections · 7.1°S, 26.2°E
  25. 3,712 MW Near Pretoria 121 detections
  26. 3,679 MW Mozambique 414 detections · 15.8°S, 37.0°E
  27. 3,626 MW Mozambique 416 detections · 13.9°S, 37.9°E
  28. 3,580 MW Mozambique 414 detections · 16.1°S, 36.2°E
  29. 3,571 MW Argentina 65 detections · 28.1°S, 62.8°W
  30. 3,526 MW Near Lusaka 180 detections

How to read this map

A detection is not a confirmed wildfire

Each detection is a satellite pixel — roughly 375 metres across — that was significantly hotter than its surroundings when a satellite passed overhead. Most are vegetation fires, but the same signature comes from gas flares, volcanoes, and agricultural burning, and NASA publishes the data with exactly that caveat. That is why this page counts detections and never claims each mark is a wildfire. Low-confidence detections are excluded.

Megawatts, and where haze comes from

The intensity figure is fire radiative power: the heat output NASA measures for each detection, summed across an area. It is the best single proxy for how much is burning — and how much smoke is being made. When one region tops this list for days, that is usually the fire season driving the haze downwind of it. Detections reach this page within a few hours of the satellite seeing them.

Fire data: NASA FIRMS (LANCE near-real-time VIIRS detections), provided as is. Basemap: Natural Earth. Major Global News is not affiliated with either, and this page is not an alerting or emergency service — for conditions where you live, use your national agency.