File:Wildfires in South Africa (MODIS 2024-02-05).jpg

On February 1, 2024, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image of fires burning near Pringle Bay (west) and Betty’s Bay (at the right edge of the image). Both communities sit about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Cape Town. Red “hot spots” mark areas where the thermal bands on the MODIS instrument detected high temperatures. In this case, the hot spots are caused by actively burning wildfires.

Sensors on NASA and NOAA satellites began to detect widespread fire activity near Pringle Bay on January 29, the same day that local authorities warned people in nearby communities to prepare to evacuate. The next day, Pringle Bay’s 800 residents were ordered to evacuate, and firefighters fought the blaze along the southern edge of the town.

According to the JRC Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), the total burnt area in the region was about 25,000 hectares as of January 31. Media reported that there were dozens of houses damaged in the Cape Peninsula, just south of Cape Town, with about 250 people displaced. While many individual wildfires, including those at Pringle Bay and Betty’s Bay, have been brought under control, additional fire starts in the region have been occurring frequently, according to the NCC Wildfires Facebook page.