Burning forests speedily space-mapped for fire fighters



 
Firemen fight a forest fire in Barbadas northwestern Spain Thursday Aug. 22, 2002. The fire has burnt an estimated 200 hectares of pine since it broke out Thursday evening Aug. 22.

Fire 'hotspots' were shown by space data
 
Forest fire 'hotspots'were displayed by DEMOBIRD data during the demonstration in Galicia, Spain. From acquiring the image to final product delivery to local users took 92 minutes, and should take less time still in future.


 
Infrared sensors on the German Aerospace Centre DLR's BIRD satellite are optimised for fire detection. BIRD was used in the DEMOBIRD demonstration in May, as part of the ESA Earth Watch Fuegosat Programme.



Release date: 22 June 2004