USDA Forest Service Engineering
Remote Sensing
Forest Fire Control Applications
The Forest Service is the largest operational user and developer of airborne thermal infrared remote sensing systems for wildfire detection and mapping. At the National Interagency Fire Center, a dual-band thermal infrared system called Firefly uses advanced signal processing for fire mapping and detection. Locations of fires can be geo-referenced with the Global Positioning System (GPS), then transmitted to the ground within minutes. Another system called the Fire Mouse Trap uses forward-looking infrared and GPS mounted in a helicopter for locating hot spots and mapping perimeters of fires and areas of interest in a near-real-time manner for prompt action. Other applications of remote sensing and related technology in fire behavior and effects research ongoing at the Rocky Mountain Research Station and Pacific Southwest Research Station include assessing wildfire severity, analyzing postfire succession in ecosystems, estimating the rate of spread of wildfires, and assessing forest fire potential.
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