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Satellite Surveillance Helps U.S. and Canadian Firefighters
By SPACE.com Staff
posted: 10:20 am ET
21 August 2001
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satellite_firefighters_010820 U.S. and Canadian firefighters and land managers are using satellite data from both NASA and the European Space Agency to combat wildfires raging in the North American continent's Northwest region. NASA's Terra satellite is providing a view of fires across the entire United States, helping local officials manage fires more effectively, both during and after wildfires. The effort, a collaboration between NASA, the University of Maryland, College Park, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. Earlier in the month, REMSAT, an ESA-supported satellite ground station that supplies up-to-the-minute fire mapping and logistics support, was a vital part of the Canadian firefighters' arsenal as they fought blazes in British Columbia. REMSAT was deployed to aid 180 firefighters battling two project fires - those that require a full incident management team, with logistical and administrative support, camp facilities for crews and much more. The REMSAT system is housed in a container, carried by a truck or large helicopter to within sniffing distance of a fire, deploying a 1.2 m satellite dish aerial, which has a 2 Mb receiving data rate (96 Kb transmitting rate) communicating through the ANIKE-1 geostationary satellite. "We had no access to any type of non-satellite based telephone service," explains Steve Newton, Manager of the Lillooet Fire Zone for Canadas Kamloops Fire Centre. "FM Radio for the area also had severe limitations and had to be supplemented with local temporary repeaters set up exclusively for this project. The Sullivan Creek fire was approximately 725 hectares, caused by lightning. The Game Creek fire covered about 412 hectares and the suspected cause is from industrial activities." "The fires were both located in extremely rugged and steep terrain, and most of the area within and around the fire perimeters was only accessible by helicopter," Newton said. "As if that wasnt enough," he continued, "the valley where the fires were situated is also used for the relocation of grizzly bears who are causing problems with humans." 
The REMSAT Intermediate Mobile Terminal setup at Abbotsford, Canada for proof of concept exercises. On the U.S. side of the border, the Terra satellite beams daily images of western U.S. wildfires to NASA within a few hours of the time that it passes over the region. These images and active fire detections are transmitted to the Forest Service. The images will become a regular part of the Forest Service's fire monitoring toolkit. Maps derived from the data show daily active fires and areas that were burned during previous days. In the future, other Terra-derived data will help teams of scientists rehabilitate burned areas. They will use burn severity maps -- derived from satellite and ground measurements -- to prevent further erosion, soil loss and adverse impacts to water quality. Terra data will provide a quick look, which can then be refined on the ground. The maps will also help scientists identify critical wildlife habitat affected by the fire and facilitate reforesting an area. "NASA remains deeply committed to working cooperatively with its sister agencies to monitor and combat wildfires across the nation," said Ghassem Asrar, NASA's Associate Administrator for the Office of Earth Science. "Our investment in the Terra Earth Observing System is starting to pay tremendous dividends to the American taxpayer."
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