Frequently asked questions
What GISFire shows, where the data comes from, and how to read it without being misled.
Where can I see wildfires burning in France and Europe right now?
GISFire shows active fires detected by satellite across France and the rest of Europe on an interactive map, within about three hours of acquisition. Each dot is a thermal anomaly recorded by NASA. The map is informational and is not an operational alert tool.
Does the map cover the whole world?
No. GISFire covers Europe and the Mediterranean basin, a window stretching from 25 degrees west to 45 degrees east in longitude and from 27 to 72 degrees north in latitude. Fires outside this area, in America or Asia for instance, are not shown.
Where does the data come from?
Fire detections come from NASA's FIRMS service, in near real time. Two sensor families are used: VIIRS at 375-metre resolution, flown on Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21, and MODIS at 1 kilometre, flown on the Terra and Aqua satellites.
How often is the map updated?
GISFire refreshes its data every 30 minutes. However, around three hours elapse between the satellite passing over a fire and NASA publishing the detection. A detection on the map therefore describes a situation that is already a few hours old.
Why does a fire in the news not appear on the map?
Two reasons combine. Polar-orbiting satellites only pass over a given point two to four times a day, so a fire can start between two passes. On top of that comes a publication delay of about three hours. A wildfire can therefore be known to the media before it becomes visible here.
Does a red dot always mean a wildfire?
No. A dot on the map is a thermal anomaly seen from space, not necessarily a wildfire. Industrial flares, agricultural burns, furnaces and solar reflections also trigger detections. Clustering into events filters out part of these false alarms, but not all of them.
What does FRP mean?
FRP stands for Fire Radiative Power. It is expressed in megawatts and measures the energy radiated by combustion at the moment the satellite passes. It is an indicator of fire intensity, not a measurement of burned area.
What is the difference between a hot pixel and an event?
A hot pixel is a raw detection from a satellite sensor. An event groups several hot pixels close in space and time, using DBSCAN clustering: a 2,500-metre radius, at least three points, and a 48-hour sliding window. The event gives a synthetic view of the fire.
Why do old fires disappear, on GISFire as on FIRMS?
Because a satellite does not see a burned area: it sees heat. A detection flags a point that is radiating at the moment the satellite passes. Once the fire front has moved on and the ground has cooled, there is nothing left to detect, even though the terrain stays scorched for months. This is true of FIRMS and of every tool derived from it, GISFire included. By default the map shows the last 12 hours, to say what is burning now. To see a fire in full, pick the timeline's "All 7 d" mode: it stacks a whole week of detections instead of scrolling through them, like NASA's "7 DAYS" button. The actual burned area is the domain of official mapping (Copernicus EMS, Sentinel-2 burn scars), published a few days later.
How accurate are the detections?
Ground resolution is 375 metres for the VIIRS sensor and about 1 kilometre for MODIS. A pixel therefore indicates the presence of fire somewhere within an area of that size, without drawing its outline. Small fires and fires under cloud cover can escape detection.
How can I track the Canadairs and other water bombers?
GISFire shows the ADS-B positions of French Sécurité civile aircraft that broadcast their signal, via adsb.lol. Callsigns identify them: PELIC for the Canadair CL-415, MILAN for the Dash 8 Q400 MR, ABEL for the Air Tractor AT-802 leased each summer as reinforcement, DRAGON for helicopters, BENGALE and MORANE for coordination and observation.
Why do I see no aircraft at night?
Sécurité civile water bombers fly under visual flight rules and operate only in daylight, so no aircraft is visible at night. Military aircraft, which generally do not broadcast their ADS-B position, do not appear either, day or night.
What do the smoke and wind layers show?
The smoke layer uses NASA GIBS VIIRS True Color imagery at 250 metres: a single mosaic per day, published in the early afternoon; before that time, the previous day's mosaic is shown. The wind layer uses Open-Meteo and gives the wind at 10 metres, forecast up to 48 hours ahead.
Can I go back in time?
Yes. GISFire keeps a 30-day history of detections. A timeline replays fire activity over several windows: 1 hour, 12 hours, 24 hours or 7 days. A final mode, "All 7 d", stacks a full week of detections instead of scrolling through them: it is the one that shows the area a wildfire has covered.
Is it free?
Yes. GISFire is free and requires no account: the map, the 30-day history, and the smoke, wind and aircraft layers are available directly in the browser. The service remains informational and does not replace official alert and emergency channels.
Full details on sources, methodology and limitations are gathered on the page Credits, sources and limits.
© 2026 SARO · Gistin. Tous droits réservés. L'interface, sa présentation et les contenus de GISFire sont protégés ; leur reproduction ou leur imitation est soumise à autorisation écrite. Les données sources restent la propriété de leurs producteurs respectifs, voir les crédits.