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FAO launches online fire monitoring system
As we’re all aware, the Internet is a huge font of information - but it’s not always reliable. The world’s largest organizations are aware of this, and thus more and more sites from official bodies are being posted on the net.
Edition 641 (26 Aug 2010), 
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This latest one demonstrates how new technologies can keep us informed and at the same time extend help to authorities in any given country, by giving them up-to-the-minute information.
On 11th August, the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation, in collaboration with NASA (and created with NASA funds) launched a new Internet portal, giving real time information on forest fires: www.fao.org/nr/gfims/gf-home/it/.
The online service is freely available and comes in three languages: English, French and Spanish. Called GFIMS (Global Fire Information Management System), it allows us to keep abreast of all the fires taking place in any selected area throughout the world. It can also detect “hot spots” that give rise to fires using data received from NASA satellites.
The information given by this new portal is particularly relevant at a time when not just Portugal but other countries – Russia, for example, which is in a veritable state of chaos – are being devastated by fires, often beyond their capacity to control.
To develop and perfect GFIMS, the FAO also collaborated with the US University of Maryland. The new system allows users to monitor fires in “almost real” time, as it takes roughly two and a half hours for satellite images to be inserted online.
The new portal is simple to use, and very well organized. It explains how GFIMS works and allows users to receive email alerts, lets them download files with fire information, and gives access to a map with the locations of detected fires.
