29 fire pixels detected · FRP: 585 MW · ~4.1 km²
Geographic Context
This fire event occurred near Knysna (approximately 8 km away) in South Africa, an area that experiences a range of natural hazards. An estimated 65.4K people live within 35 km of the event location, placing this in the "severe" population impact tier.
Event Assessment
This event is a large-scale wildfire with a fire radiative power (FRP) of 585 MW, indicating extreme heat output and rapid fire spread. Calamity.live has classified it as "critical" severity with a severity value of 87.49199999999998. The computed Calamity Score is 71 out of 100, indicating a significant event requiring close monitoring. The primary scoring components are: intensity (80), historical (80), cascading (70). Data for this event was sourced from firms, one of the 250 scientific monitoring sources aggregated by Calamity.live.
Regional Monitoring Context
South Africa has a documented history of fire events. Wildfire activity in the region is monitored through NASA FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System), which provides near-real-time active fire data from MODIS and VIIRS satellites. Fire behavior is influenced by vegetation type, moisture content, wind patterns, and terrain — all factors that determine whether an initial ignition becomes a major event.
Cascade Risk Analysis
This event may trigger secondary hazards through cascade effects. Cascade detection is an automated process that evaluates how primary disasters can trigger secondary events — for example, earthquakes triggering landslides, or volcanic eruptions causing lahars and pyroclastic flows. These secondary hazards can sometimes pose a greater threat than the initial event, particularly in mountainous terrain or densely populated areas.
Event Data
| Type | Fire |
| Severity | critical |
| Severity Value | 87.49199999999998 |
| Calamity Score | 71 / 100 |
| Confidence | 68% |
| Coordinates | -34.0024, 23.1296 |
| Nearest City | Knysna (8 km) |
| Population Exposed | 65.4K within 35 km |
| Impact Tier | severe |
| Timestamp | 2026-03-13T13:23:00.000Z |
Score Breakdown
Technical Details
| Brightness | 367 |
| Frp | 584.9199999999997 |
| PixelCount | 29 |
| Confidence | high |
| Area Km2 | 4.0600000000000005 |
Cascade Risks
Safety Information
If a wildfire is approaching: follow evacuation orders immediately. Do not wait to see the fire. Close all windows and doors, remove combustible materials from around your home, and have an emergency go-bag ready. Air quality can deteriorate rapidly even at distance from the fire front — monitor local air quality advisories.
This data is aggregated algorithmically from scientific sources. Not a replacement for official emergency warnings.
Calamity.live data shows a fire event with CalamityScore 71/100, near Knysna (South Africa), based on data from firms. Source: Calamity.live, a platform aggregating real-time data from 207 scientific monitoring sources.