Liz Barrow, Business Applications and Partnerships Officer at the European Space Agency (ESA), discusses how space technology and satellite data can support wildfire preparedness, response, and resilience across Europe.

European wildfires are becoming an increasingly serious challenge, with rising temperatures, prolonged drought, and changing fire seasons placing greater pressure on communities, ecosystems, and emergency services. As the frequency and intensity of fires increase, improving preparedness and response is becoming critical.

Space technology and satellite data are playing an increasingly important role in addressing this challenge. From monitoring active fires and assessing wildfire risk to supporting communications and tracking landscape recovery, space-enabled solutions can provide valuable information to those working on the frontline.

To encourage and support innovation in technology to advance wildfire management, response and prevention, the European Space Agency offers the Wildfire Safety Initiative. The funding programme supports the development of commercial services using Earth observation, satellite communications, and geolocation. The initiative operates through targeted thematic calls for proposals, designated with support from European fire and rescue services, civil protection agencies, and forest management authorities.

In this interview, ESA’s Liz Barrow explores the growing threat of European wildfires, the role of satellite technology, and the opportunities for businesses developing solutions to strengthen wildfire resilience.

Why are wildfires a priority target area for ESA?

The aim of ESA’s Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS) is to support European businesses to develop, test, and launch innovative commercially successful solutions. These space-enabled services and products deliver measurable socio-economic impacts, contributing to the competitiveness of European businesses on a global scale, and boosting European resilience as well as sustainability.

Much of the data which is critical to understanding wildfires is already derived from satellite Earth observation and space-based technologies. There is untapped potential, however, in ongoing advances in space and terrestrial technologies that offer new ways to tackle the challenges of preparing, adapting, and responding to wildfires.

Currently, no single solution offers reliable, timely, and scalable detection, and low-technology legacy systems, such as watchtowers, persist. This highlights the potential for space-enabled services to advance the early detection of wildfires, which is critical for effective response as the efficacy of interventions diminishes rapidly with time from ignition.

Satellite data and technology offer businesses new ways of approaching the challenge of wildfire management. Satellite Earth observation can be used for mapping and monitoring active fires, burn scars, vegetative health, risk factors, and vulnerable infrastructure. Satellite positioning can help to guide aerial platforms (drones and aircraft) for fire monitoring and suppression, geo-referencing of data collected from aerial platforms and in-situ sensors. In addition, satellite communications can provide connectivity to distributed in-situ sensors across a region, as well as communication links for aerial platforms.

ESA can support European businesses with space-enabled services which help our preparedness against wildfires by providing:

Zero-equity funding;
Technical and commercial guidance;
Access to our network and partners; and
ESA brand credibility.

What is the severity of the issue in Europe?

The current situation in Europe, particularly France and Spain, is unprecedented and changing rapidly as extreme heat and drought conditions continue.

Tragically, 14 people have already died in wildfires in Spain this year, and a state of emergency was declared as fires approached Madrid. In France and Spain, over 375,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, and in Gironde, France, 84 firefighters have been injured in efforts to contain the fires, which have become self-sustaining.

Many thousands have also been forced to evacuate following outbreaks of fires in Greece, Portugal, Italy, and the UK. To date, nearly 260,000 hectares of land have burned across Europe, double the seasonal average for the same period, according to the European Forest Fires Information System. 1,254 fires have already been detected this year and, as heatwaves and drought conditions persist, more fire outbreaks are inevitable, with extreme fire danger conditions forecast across the UK, France, Iberia, parts of northern Scandinavia, and very high danger conditions forecast in Turkey and central-eastern Europe.

Previously, in 2025, a record million hectares of land were burned across Europe, and as climate change leads to more frequent and intense fires, increasing our preparedness against wildfires and improving the speed of our response is vital.

Historically, wildfires have always played a part in the natural environment, but the frequency and intensity of fires is changing, particularly across Europe – the world’s fastest warming continent. The severity and expanse of fires have increased, as well as the length of the fire season, which now extends beyond the summer months.

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Wildfires are deadly and their impacts are environmental, economic and social, causing extensive loss and damage to natural resources, property, and lives. It is estimated that European wildfires cause a yearly production loss of billions of Euros, as local economies suffer through impacts on tourism, the disruption of trade, and abandonment of local areas.

As well as risk to life and injuries, there are long-term health impacts as the burning of biomass releases pollutants including black carbon, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter into the air, which negatively impact air quality.

Can you summarise what the Wildfire Safety Initiative is and what it aims to achieve?

The Wildfire Safety Initiative is inviting proposals from European businesses for innovative services that advance wildfire management using space technology and data. There are two elements to the funding call, Wildfire Response and Wildfire Preparedness.

Wildfire Response focuses on supporting solutions for early detection of wildfires, near-real-time fire evolution monitoring, and fire behaviour simulation and prediction.

Our current call, Wildfire Preparedness, addresses wildfire risk assessment, fuel load management, and the application of preventative and adaptation measures.

Can you share some achievements or standout technologies to come out of the initiative so far?

At the moment, the contracts are being finalised, so it is too early to point to delivered achievements. However, we are seeing a strong pipeline of innovative ideas regarding wildfire response. One concept stands out as the most significant – the transition from separate tools to integrated operational services covering a larger portion of the wildfire life-cycle – from prevention, forecasting and initial detection; through emergency management, active response, post-incident analysis, and ecological recovery.

These services will integrate satellite Earth observation with AI/ML, weather and topography data, IoT sensors, autonomous systems, hyperspectral imagery, crowdsourced inputs, and resilient communications. They will provide more timely and actionable intelligence for emergency responders, infrastructure operators, insurance providers, forestry stakeholders, and environmental agencies.

Predictive wildfire intelligence is another promising area. Rather than simply detecting active fires, several concepts aim to forecast how wildfires might behave and spread over the next few hours using near-real-time satellite observations, fire propagation models, historical fire archives, and uncertainty-based outputs. Other concepts aim to improve the quality of data which will be used to feed these models. This will be done by dynamically mapping live fuel moisture, biomass loads, fuel condition, and firebreak feasibility. This could help to improve the accuracy of short-term propagation modelling and allow for better tactical decisions to be made during active incidents.

Operational usability is another major theme among the concepts. Many of the proposed services intend to convert Earth observation-derived products into practical workflows for use by civil protection and emergency response teams. These include common operational pictures, role-based decision support tools, modular platforms, and deployable coordination services. Some approaches specifically attempt to solve the problem of maintaining situational awareness while terrestrial communications are disrupted by using satellite communications, mesh networks, and dynamic data routing to keep critical information flowing to commanders in the field.

In addition to new ideas for preventing and responding to European wildfires, there are new ideas for recovering landscapes after they have burned. Advanced satellite analytical techniques – including hyperspectral image processing techniques – have the potential to enable greater detail in assessing burn severity, soil conditions, potential for erosion/floods, vegetation stress levels, rates of biomass recovery, and levels of ecosystem restoration.

Overall, these emerging space-enabled services point toward wildfire services that are more predictive, more integrated, and more usable by frontline emergency responders and others.

What are the main priorities/focus areas of the initiative currently?

Applications to the Wildfire Response call are now under consideration, and our current call, Wildfire Preparedness, runs 1 September – 1 December 2026.

ESA consulted a range of stakeholders operating within wildfire management, risk assessment, land management, and resilience domains, who helped identify key challenges related to anticipating, mitigating, and reducing wildfire impacts before ignition or escalation.

The main focus areas for the call are:

Wildfire risk assessment

Preparedness relies on understanding where wildfires are most likely to occur, under what conditions they escalate, and which communities and assets are at risk. We are looking for space-enabled solutions tailored to the needs of land managers, planners, insurers, and public authorities. These solutions should demonstrate how improved risk insights can support preventive action, resource prioritisation, and the long-term reduction of wildfire impacts, rather than real-time emergency response.

Fuel management and landscape condition

The behaviour and severity of a wildfire is largely determined by fuel availability, structure, and condition. Effective fuel management relies on timely, spatially consistent information on vegetation type, fuel load, fuel moisture, and landscape continuity, but this information is often fragmented, outdated, or difficult to obtain across large or remote areas. We are looking for space-enabled solutions that improve monitoring, mapping, and decision-making for fuel management and landscape level preparedness.

Adaptation and long-term preparedness measures

The risk of wildfires can never be eliminated, so preparedness requires long-term adaptation measures that reduce exposure and vulnerability of communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems to future outbreaks. We are looking for space-enabled solutions that support strategic adaptation and preparedness planning, which show a credible pathway towards operational use.

Learn more about ESA’s funding call for Wildfires.

What are you hoping to achieve from the latest funding call?

We intend to commercialise space-driven solutions by transitioning proven space technologies (satEO, satnav and satcom) into commercially viable, operational services for wildfire management.

Another key priority is to enhance wildfire response by deploying innovative services that improve early detection, enable near-real-time monitoring of fire evolution, and support predictive fire behaviour simulation.

We will also empower frontline end-users by delivering field-ready tools developed in close collaboration with European fire and rescue services, civil protection agencies, and forest management authorities.

Finally, we will lay the groundwork for future resilience by validating both the technical and economic feasibility of these systems, paving the way for their wider operational adoption.

This article will feature in our upcoming Wildfires Special Focus Publication.