Boots on the ground, eyes in the sky: satellites increasingly used to fight wildfires
CTV
Eyes in the sky are becoming an increasingly important tool for boots on the ground when it comes to fighting wildfires, experts say, as data from a growing number of satellites give firefighters new tools to predict fire behaviour and analyze its consequences.
Eyes in the sky are becoming an increasingly important tool for boots on the ground when it comes to fighting wildfires, experts say, as data from a growing number of satellites give firefighters new tools to predict fire behaviour and analyze its consequences.
"It's being more and more adopted," said wildfire expert Mike Flannigan of Thompson Rivers University.
"In the old days, almost no one was using satellites. Now they're being used more and more."
The last decade has seen a huge jump in the number Earth observation satellites, driven by cheaper technology and the entry of private industry.
A count from the Union of Concerned Scientists says there were 192 such satellites in 2014. Now there are 971.
That has given wildfire managers and scientists unprecedented ability to get the big picture, said Joshua Johnston, a Natural Resources Canada scientist working on WildfireSat, which will be the world's first purpose-built satellite for monitoring wildfires.
"Putting eyes on a fire is the most valuable intelligence you can get," he said. "There's not enough pilots to fly every fire in the country on a daily basis, let alone twice a day."
