How to Use DisasterAWARE For Wildfire Monitoring

Monitoring Wildfires with DisasterAWARE

Wildfires are very destructive, and pose major threats to communities and important infrastructure. In 2025, the Los Angeles wildfires alone caused over $250 billion in damages. DisasterAWARE provides real-time, global wildfire monitoring powered by patented detection systems and NOAA satellite data. It enables organizations to track active wildfires, assess risk, and make timely decisions using accurate, near real-time insights.

Automated and Manually Curated Products

DisasterAWARE delivers wildfire information through interactive maps and a hazards list. Each wildfire includes a Hazard Inspector, offering detailed data and access to automated Situational Awareness Reports—PDFs updated with every new satellite observation. 

These include:

• A clear summary of the wildfire’s current status and potential impacts
• Maps showing the fire’s extent and areas of active burning
• Plotted fire radiative potential points, which indicate both the location and intensity of active fires

For high-impact events, expert-curated insights are also provided by DisasterAWARE’s disaster response team, ensuring timely, actionable intelligence for analysts, planners, and decision-makers.

Understanding Wildfire Severity Levels in DisasterAWARE

DisasterAWARE applies a consistent four-level severity scale to all hazards:

• Information – Minor or limited impact possible
• Advisory – Increased caution; FRP 22–100 GW
• Watch – Significant risk; FRP exceeds 100 GW
• Warning – Severe threat imminent or ongoing

Severity is calculated using fire size, FRP (Fire Radiative Power), and proximity to populated or Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) areas. This ensures risk levels reflect both fire behavior and human impact potential.

Exposure and Notification Areas

 Two key areas define how wildfire threats are tracked and communicated:

• Exposure Area – The actual burn perimeter
• Notification Area – A 2,500-meter buffer around the fire

When a user’s defined Area of Interest intersects with a Notification Area at a specified severity level, DisasterAWARE automatically triggers alerts. This supports proactive, location-specific response strategies.

Supporting Map Layers for Wildfire Context

The platform includes 15 wildfire-specific data layers under the Wildfire subfolder, helping users evaluate risk in real time. These Layers include:

• Current wildfire boundaries and hotspots
• Wind speed forecasts and Air Quality Index
• Fire behavior indicators like FWI (Fire Weather Index) and ISI (Initial Spread Index)
• Historical fire data and U.S. incident reports

These layers can be used alongside user data to anticipate fire spread, assess health impacts, and understand historical risk patterns.

Asset Protection and Exposure Reporting

Organizations can integrate asset data via ArcGIS services or secure API connections. DisasterAWARE allows for:

• Custom asset classes and update intervals
• Notification buffers around asset locations
• Email alerts to non-user contacts like facility managers

Asset Exposure Reports provide detailed summaries of affected assets, including types, exposure levels, and user-defined metrics such as employee counts or financial impact.

Data as a Service for Wildfire Monitoring

DisasterAWARE’s Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) offering provides wildfire data via REST APIs, supporting direct integration with internal dashboards and risk systems. Available data includes:

• Hazard location and severity
• The SmartAlert notification area
• The wildfire’s exposure (burn) area
• All associated products, such as the automated Wildfire Situational Awareness Reports

Organizations can subscribe to event-driven notifications to eliminate manual polling and ensure their systems stay updated in real time.