About kanari
kanari is an independent information service that maps wildfire ignitions detected by satellite in near real time, anywhere in the world. Our mission: make every fire start visible as early as possible, so citizens, media and emergency services get the same information at the same moment.
How does it work?
Three families of satellites complement each other. The VIIRS instruments (NASA FIRMS, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 polar-orbiting satellites) spot thermal anomalies at 375 m resolution — an intense fire of a few square meters is detectable at night — but only pass a few times a day. The geostationary satellites GOES (NOAA, Americas) and Meteosat MTG (EUMETSAT, Europe/Africa) watch continuously and refresh every 10 minutes: less precise, but decisive for earliness. kanari adds social media monitoring of citizen reports, geolocated by place name and triaged by AI — every report is judged twice before being displayed.
Known limits
- A detection is a thermal anomaly, not necessarily a wildfire: industrial flares, agricultural burns and volcanoes show up too.
- Polar satellites only pass a few times a day: a fire can start between two passes and only appear several hours after ignition.
- Thick clouds and dense canopy can hide a detection.
Disclaimer
kanari is not an official alert service and never replaces emergency channels. If you witness a fire start, immediately call 911 (US & Canada), 112 (Europe) or your local emergency number.
Who are we?
kanari is built as a mission-driven project: the goal is public interest, not data monetization. The code is open and the data sources are public.