A free tool for tracking wildfires

AFIS Wildfire Map is a free wildfire tracker for firefighters, meteorologists, volunteers, and rescue enthusiasts. It uses the Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS), a satellite-based fire information tool, for real-time wildfire information from across the globe.

Developed by the CSIR, this free AFIS app includes a map viewer for wind movements and fires with satellite imagery similar to Google Earth and NASA World Wind.

What can it do?

The AFIS Wildfire Map is a free wildfire and wind tracking app that provides access to fires detected across the globe by Terra and Aqua satellites from NASA, plus SNPP and NOAA-20 satellites. Alongside news, legend, and feedback menus, users can view fires and wind conditions on a live map.

Who can use it?

This free live fire tracker is available to Android users. It shows the current and previous day’s fire status, measures fire distance and area, and sees wind and temperature readings up to 13.5km from the surface. Thus, the app can be used not only by professional and volunteer firefighters and rescuers but also by meteorologists and weather geeks.

What’s special about it?

The app shows wildfire information from the four corners of the world, with both active and suppressed fires featured in a color-coded display. It also shows interactive heat maps with wind, temperature, and pressure forecasts for the next 10 days, enabling users to fast-forward and anticipate fire movement.

Merges satellite imagery, fire, and wind data

This AFIS app is extremely useful to firefighters and meteorologists in its ability to relay real-time data on both fire and wind movement. However, it would have been infinitely more useful if it overlapped the two viewers, displaying wind and fire simultaneously on a single map.