- Active front line
- Burned area
- Severity classes
Daily fire front, burned area and severity.
SWIR-based indices split the active front from the burned interior and grade severity across it, refreshed each day while the incident is active.
Spec
- GSD
- 10–30 m (wide-swath)
- Cadence
- Daily during the event
- Platform
- Wide-swath satellite
- Spectral
- Multispectral, SWIR-based indices
- Delivery unit
- One incident AOI
- Formats
- GIS layer export
Files, formats and what is in them
- File
- Active front line
- Format
GIS line layer- What is in it
- The current fire edge, dated. Refreshed each day the incident is active, for the operational period's map products.
- File
- Burned area polygon
- Format
GIS polygon layer- What is in it
- Cumulative burned extent inside your incident AOI, one dated version per pass. Acreage comes from the polygon.
- File
- Severity classes
- Format
GIS polygon or raster layer- What is in it
- Graded severity bands across the burned area, from SWIR-based index classes. The classes are index-based, so treat them as a first-look map for BAER and recovery teams, not as a validated soil burn severity map.
- File
- Daily layer refresh
- Format
Daily export- What is in it
- The same layers, updated each day for the length of the incident, so the GIS desk overwrites yesterday's version with today's. After containment the refresh drops from daily once the event is no longer active.
How it works
Area in
You send the incident AOI, as a shapefile or a drawn boundary, and say whether the fire is active or contained.
Imagery
We take the wide-swath multispectral pass over the AOI each day the incident is active.
Analysis
SWIR-based spectral indices separate the active front from already-burned ground and grade severity across the burned area.
Delivery
The layers come back as a dated GIS export for the situation unit and, once the fire is contained, for recovery assessment. Nothing needs new tasking to move from one to the other.
Operating envelope
- Limit
- Smoke and cloud
- Condition
- Smoke and cloud over the AOI.
- Effect
- A pass can be partly or fully hidden. SWIR sees through some smoke but not dense cloud.
- Delivery
- A delayed layer, with the date of the last usable pass on it.
- Limit
- Resolution floor
- Condition
- 10–30 m ground sample distance.
- Effect
- The perimeter and severity read at the scale of a fire, not a building. Individual structures, single trees and spot fires smaller than a few pixels are not resolved.
- Delivery
- Nothing is reported below that scale. Pair with finer imagery for structure assessment.
- Limit
- Cadence is a target
- Condition
- Satellite pass schedule.
- Effect
- Daily is what the service aims for, and a missed pass is a gap in the series.
- Delivery
- Every layer carries the pass date.
- Limit
- Current state only
- Condition
- Any request for a forecast.
- Effect
- The layers report where the front and the burn are on the pass date.
- Delivery
- No spread forecast and no containment prediction.
- Limit
- Index grading
- Condition
- Severity read from spectral indices.
- Effect
- The classes are not a field-verified burn severity survey.
- Delivery
- Labels the classes as index-based.
Why this exists
The perimeter on the incident map comes from a track, a sketch and, on the big fires, the overnight infrared flight, and the GISS reconciles them by hand before the next briefing. Between flights, or when smoke keeps the aircraft down, the edge is a day old. Burn severity waits for the fire to be out and the BAER team to build a classification.
Fire Perimeter Map adds a daily satellite layer of the front, the burned area and graded severity, so the picture between the other sources is filled in.
Who it's for
For
- Incident GIS specialists and fire intelligence analysts keeping the perimeter current for the situation unit.
- Agency GIS coordinators who need a burned-area and severity layer for suppression planning.
- BAER and recovery planners who want a first-look severity map on the day the fire is contained.
Not for
- Buyers who need a spread forecast or containment prediction.
- Structure-level damage assessment or property-loss estimates.
- A validated soil burn severity map. That needs field work.
- Live video or minute-by-minute tracking.
Questions from the GIS desk
Is daily guaranteed during heavy smoke?
No. Smoke and cloud can hide a pass. SWIR helps through some smoke but not dense cloud, so on the worst days the layer comes late and carries the date of its last usable pass.
Does 10–30 m show individual structures?
No. The layers are perimeter and severity scale. For structure assessment, use finer imagery alongside.
Does it predict fire spread?
No. It reports where the front and the burned area sit on the pass date and stops there.
How is severity graded?
SWIR-based index classes across the burned area. It is not a field-verified burn severity survey, and it does not replace the BAER team's validated map.
Can I check it against our own perimeter?
Yes. Overlay the layers on your infrared flight perimeter or your GPS tracks for a fire you already mapped, and see how far the edges differ before you rely on it.
What formats does it arrive in, and will it load in our GIS?
It arrives as GIS layers, so ArcGIS Pro and QGIS can open it. We do not write into your incident feature service directly.
Does coverage continue after containment?
Yes, for recovery assessment, though the cadence can drop from daily once the event is no longer active.
How is it bought and who owns the imagery?
Contracting, data rights and pricing are agreed for your incident or agency before anything is ordered. Tell us how your agency buys, and a specialist will scope it to fit.
Tell us the incident. We will tell you what the pass can cover.
Send the incident AOI and whether it is active or contained. A specialist confirms coverage and cadence for it.