The Importance of Geospatial Data in Wildfire Response

𝗔 𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝟮𝟮,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿-𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝗺𝘆 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹. Reading about NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration;s Next Generation Fire System this morning in Aaron Price's Newsletter, and honestly? The speed blew my mind. But what got me thinking was that 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵. NOAA built "Tactical Integrated Warning Teams" connecting meteorologists, firefighters, and emergency responders. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀: Working in energy SaaS, I see the other side daily. Many wildfires start with utility infrastructure - downed poles, tree limbs hitting powerlines, equipment failures creating that initial spark. Imagine 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴. Heat signatures near transmission lines could trigger immediate grid isolation, dispatch crews to GPS coordinates, and help differentiate equipment-caused fires from natural ignitions. The "𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 + 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲" approach mirrors what we need in utility ops - 𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘦 and coordinated response protocols. #Wildfire #Utilities #AssetManagement #EnergyTech #RiskMitigation

Harnessing Space to Combat Wildfires: FireSat In a recent CNBC podcast, our partners from Muon Space and the Earth Fire Alliance discussed how we’re collaborating to leverage geospatial data to fight wildfires – specifically, our progress on FireSat, a satellite constellation designed to detect and track 5x5 meter wildfires anywhere in the world, updated every 20 minutes. Fire authorities tell us that fires are exponentially easier to suppress when they are small, which will make FireSat a game changer for their ability to respond to fires. We also expect this data to enable scientists to improve wildfire modeling and prediction. Key takeaways: 𝗡𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲: Thanks to cost reductions, it's now possible to move from general-purpose satellites to focused purpose-built satellites that are better tailored to specific insights. 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲: I’ve seen time and time again how our Google Research teams with remote sensing expertise are able to achieve breakthroughs by leveraging massive amounts of satellite data in combination with other data sources – see e.g. our work on Contrails, Solar API, Flood Forecasting, and more. (We are also leveraging current geostationary satellites for the wildfire boundaries that we show today in Google Maps.) 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹: Our focus will be on applying AI to FireSat to enable firefighters, first responders, and scientists to access the satellite data in near real-time, enabling it to translate directly into faster, more effective response. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: With the support of Google Research in sensor design, and Google.org's $13 million grant to the Earth Fire Alliance, the first FireSat satellite is scheduled to launch this quarter, as the first step in a new era of global wildfire detection and response. We’re excited to apply our set of AI tools to tackle this growing challenge. Here are the links to the full podcast: Apple: https://lnkd.in/g2PTXRvV Spotify: https://lnkd.in/grbRJDue and you can learn more about FireSat here: https://lnkd.in/gJKUHaiR

Two NASA-developed technologies are key components of a new high-resolution sensor for observing wildfires: High Operating Temperature Barrier Infrared Detector (HOT-BIRD), developed with support from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), and a cutting-edge Digital Readout Integrated Circuit (DROIC), developed with funding from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Developed with support from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), the “Compact Fire Infrared Radiance Spectral Tracker” (c-FIRST) is a small, mid-wave infrared sensor that collects thermal radiation data across five spectral bands. Most traditional space-based sensors dedicated to observing fires have long revisit times, observing a scene just once over days or even weeks. The compact c-FIRST sensor could be employed in a SmallSat constellation that could observe a scene multiple times a day, providing first responders data with high spatial resolution in under an hour. In addition, c-FIRST’s dynamic spectral range covers the entire temperature profile of terrestrial wild fires, making it easier for first-responders to detect everything from smoldering, low-intensity fires to flaming, high intensity fires. The need for space-based assets dedicated to wildfire management is severe. During the Palisade and Eaton Fires earlier this year, strong winds kept critical observation aircraft from taking to the skies, making it difficult for firefighters to monitor and track massive burns. Space-based sensors with high revisit rates and high spatial resolution would give firefighters and first responders a constant source of eye-in-the-sky data. c-FIRST leverages decades of sensor development at JPL to achieve its compact size and high performance. In particular, the quarter-sized High Operating Temperature Barrier Infrared Detector (HOT-BIRD), a compact infrared detector also developed at JPL with ESTO support, keeps c-FIRST small, eliminating the need for bulky cryocooler subsystems that add mass to traditional infrared sensors. With HOT-BIRD alone, c-FIRST could gather high-resolution images and quantitative retrievals of targets between 300°K (about 80°F) to 1000°K (about 1300°F). But when paired with a state-of-the-art Digital Readout Integrated Circuit (DROIC), c-FIRST can observe targets greater than 1600°K (about 2400°F). Developed by Copious Imaging LLC. and JPL with funding from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, this DROIC features an in-pixel digital counter to reduce saturation, allowing c-FIRST to capture reliable infrared data across a broader spectral range. Full Article: https://lnkd.in/gJ2MjPW2 #JPL #NASA #cFIRST NASA’s c-FIRST instrument could provide high resolution data from a compact space-based platform in under an hour. (NASA/JPL)