Global wildfire explorer
Explore global burned-area trends, seasonal patterns, country-level impacts, and recent satellite-observed thermal activity.
Historical record
2002–2025
Burned area
MODIS
Recent activity
VIIRS
Annual burned area
Explore how much vegetation burns globally, how the latest year compares with the historical record, and which countries experience the largest absolute and relative impacts.
Global burned area
265.4 Mha
Satellite-estimated vegetation area burned worldwide during the latest available complete calendar year.
2025
2025 vs historical average
−33.0%
Compared with the 395.8 Mha annual average across the preceding consecutive reference period.
2012–2024 average
Largest burned area in 2025
Australia
Country with the largest absolute satellite-estimated burned area.
35.69 Mha
Highest affected land share
South Sudan
Country with the largest burned area relative to its national land area.
23.12%
Historical trend
Annual satellite-estimated vegetation area burned worldwide, with a trailing three-year average to make the underlying trend easier to compare.
Bars show annual burned area. The line shows the trailing three-year average, which smooths short-term year-to-year variation.
2012–2025
Country impact
Absolute burned area and relative national land impact tell different parts of the wildfire story.
Countries ranked by absolute satellite-estimated burned area.
2025
1
Australia
AUS
35.69 Mha
4.61% of land
2
Congo - Kinshasa
COD
30.91 Mha
13.18% of land
3
Angola
AGO
24.91 Mha
19.98% of land
4
Brazil
BRA
16.35 Mha
1.92% of land
5
South Sudan
SSD
14.95 Mha
23.12% of land
6
Zambia
ZMB
14.38 Mha
19.11% of land
7
Mozambique
MOZ
11.52 Mha
14.41% of land
8
Central African Republic
CAF
9.19 Mha
14.75% of land
9
Canada
CAN
7.37 Mha
0.47% of land
10
Russia
RUS
6.98 Mha
0.41% of land
Countries ranked by burned area relative to national land area.
2025
1
South Sudan
SSD
23.12%
14.95 Mha
2
Angola
AGO
19.98%
24.91 Mha
3
Zambia
ZMB
19.11%
14.38 Mha
4
Sierra Leone
SLE
15.67%
1.13 Mha
5
Central African Republic
CAF
14.75%
9.19 Mha
6
Mozambique
MOZ
14.41%
11.52 Mha
7
Congo - Kinshasa
COD
13.18%
30.91 Mha
8
Guinea
GIN
12.70%
3.12 Mha
9
Ghana
GHA
8.94%
2.13 Mha
10
Cambodia
KHM
8.78%
1.59 Mha
Source: Global Wildfire Information System, processed by Our World in Data. Figures represent satellite-estimated vegetation burning and are not limited exclusively to forests. Repeated burns at the same location may be counted more than once, and smaller burned areas may be missed because of sensor resolution.
Fire seasonality
Explore how global burned area changes throughout the year and identify the months with the greatest seasonal fire activity.
Year
Seasonal pattern
Global satellite-estimated vegetation area mapped as burned during each month of 2025.
Monthly burned area is derived from the MODIS MCD64A1 Version 6.1 burned-area product. Each bar represents the globally summed area of pixels mapped as burned during that month.
2025
Source: NASA MODIS MCD64A1 Version 6.1 via Google Earth Engine. Monthly burned area is calculated from 500 m pixels with a BurnDate value greater than zero, with pixel area summed globally.
2025
Recent satellite activity
Recent VIIRS thermal anomalies observed by polar-orbiting satellites. These detections indicate satellite-observed heat signatures and should not be interpreted as individual wildfires.
Data is refreshed periodically from NASA FIRMS.
Time window
Detection confidence
Active-fire detections
200,517
Past 24 hours
Nominal and high confidence
Latest observation
Sep 18, 2026, 01:02 AM UTC
Satellite coverage
3 / 3
Satellite contribution
Detection counts by VIIRS satellite platform.
NOAA-20
67,213
NOAA-21
65,536
Suomi NPP
67,768
Source: NASA FIRMS
Data updated Sep 18, 2026, 03:31 AM UTC
