Fire hotspots on Friday, October 16, 2026

NASA’s VIIRS satellite instrument detected 101,361 active fire hotspots around the world in the 24 hours to 2026-10-16 23:35 UTC. Brazil had the most (16,743, 17 percent of the world’s).

Countries with the most hotspots

What a hotspot is

Each detection is a spot about 375 meters across where the satellite saw the heat of burning: a wildfire, a farm or land-clearing fire, or sometimes a gas flare or volcano. One large fire can show up as hundreds of hotspots. Most of the world’s fires are set on purpose to clear land or burn crop waste, especially in the tropics.

Did you know?

Fighting fire with fire. Crews sometimes set fires on purpose ahead of a wildfire, burning away the fuel in its path so the main fire runs out of things to burn.

Data: NASA FIRMS, VIIRS on NOAA-20. See also wildfire pages.