## 1 Introduction
### Remote Sensing Systems for Wildfire Emergency Management  
Automatic detection systems mounted on _fixed platforms_ can make use of cameras on towers, buildings or masts with good visibility of the surveyed terrain. The sensor technologies used in today's automatic ground detection systems are mainly infrared cameras, but in some cases optical cameras may be used. Autonomous detection of hot spots in the thermal infrared (TIR) part of the electromagnetic (E/M) spectrum is the basis for several commercial systems, such as BOSQUE (IZAR-FABA) and BSDS (Teletron). The images are sent to a central control unit via a radio communication system [2, 3]. Major fires are detectable from space and their progress can be monitored using _satellite_ technology. Satellite systems are by far the mostly developed fire remote sensing tools. Satellites providing information in the infrared spectrum by deploying TIR imaging spectrometers are suitable for fire detection. Satellites and sensors with such capabilities include MSG-SEVIRI and GOES, NOAA -AVHRR, TRMM-VIRS, METOP-AVHRR-3, TERRA-MODIS, AQUA-MODIS, ERS2-ATSR, ENVISAT-AATSR, LANDSAT-TM/ETM+ and TERRA-ASTER. However, none of them has been used operationally for fire detection, mainly due to insufficient revisiting time (with the exception of MSG-SEVIRI and GOES, which are on a geostationary orbit and provide images every 15 minutes, however, with a coarse spatial resolution on the ground). It is noteworthy that these satellites can beused in a multi-sensor approach to improve the temporal resolution and may also be used in a complementary way with other surveillance systems. Near real time monitoring to support civil protection services as well as regional and national authorities has been implemented in the framework of RISK-EOS, a service element within the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program funded by European Space Agency and the European Commission. Apart from the operational satellites, whose primary task, however, is not fire detection, there are plans for certain satellite missions dedicated to fire detection. For instance, FUEGO [4] is planned to be a satellite system intended to provide the fire fighting forces with early fire warning and fire monitoring capabilities at selected regions of the Earth which are considered at high fire risk. Each satellite will have a payload including a sensor that will acquire information in the middle infrared region of the spectrum, in addition to dedicated thermal sensors designed especially for the detection of fires. Since the temporal resolution is the primary mission requirement and the number of satellites must be kept as low as possible for economic reasons, the orbital configuration has exceptional importance. If this mission succeeds, it will be the first one specifically dedicated to fire detection. It has to be stressed though that cost-effectiveness of satellite networks strictly dedicated to fire detection is somewhat questionable. Another innovative initiative reported is that of the DLR (German Aerospace Agency), which participates in the development of new satellites and sensors for fire detection. The Bispectral Infra-Red Detection (BIRD) and an Intelligent Infrared Sensor System, called FOCUS have the objective of testing a new generation of infrared array sensors adapted to Earth remote sensing objectives by means of small satellites. BIRD, which was launched in October 2001, incorporates thematic on-board data processing through a neural network classifier, and real-time discrimination between smoke and water clouds. BIRD consists of the Hot Spot Recognition System (HSRS) and the Wide-Angle Optoelectronic Stereo Scanner (WAOSS-B) [5]. Finally, the FOCUS sensor, based on the same principles as BIRD, is to be mounted on the International Space Station (ISS) [2].