Forest fires and remote sensing

The use of remote sensing techniques for the study of forest fires is a subject that started already several years ago and whose possibilities have been increasing as new sensors were incorporated into earth observation international programmes and new goals were reached based on the improved techniques that have been introduced. In this way, three main lines of work can be distinguished in which remote sensing provides results that can be applied directly to the subject of forest fires: risk of fire spreading, detection of hot spots and establishment of fire parameters and, finally, cartography of affected areas.