Firefighters know that time works in favor of a blaze. The longer a wildfire burns, the bigger it gets. If firefighters can get to a brushfire while it is still small, they stand a better chance of putting it out before it threatens people and buildings.
Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley have designed a satellite that can alert firefighters to small wildfires before they become very difficult to control.
Satellites already provide information about the breadth of wildfires, but the Fire Urgency Estimator in Geosynchronous Orbit satellite, or FUEGO, would be able to use infrared filters to detect fires sooner.
鈥淩ight now, we lose a lot of time because fires are already big by the time we see them,鈥� remote sensing expert Maggi Kelly . 鈥淔UEGO is designed for early detection of smaller fires.鈥� The satellite is currently in development.
