Greece pins hopes on heat-seeking satellites to predict wildfires 

Athens, Greece – Nine storeys off the surface of the Earth in a northern Athens suburb, half a dozen young engineers are busy reading images from four satellites orbiting 550km (340 miles) above them.

The tasking room of the Hellenic Space Center (HSC) at first seems ordinary. It is only the wall-sized screen at the end of the room that offers any hint that something extraordinary is happening here.

These satellites are Greece’s first with thermal imaging technology and are set to revolutionise fire response in the country at a time when climate change is causing drought and frequent wildfires.

By monitoring ground temperature and humidity, they can help predict where a forest fire may happen in the next few hours – a capability the Hellenic Fire Service has never had with such accuracy.

Once a fire does break out, the HSC can now model how it will spread by mapping vegetation and elevation, helping to direct fire trucks and, on impassable terrain, foot patrols referred to as forest commandos.

These predictive abilities can help the fire service pre-position assets and shorten response times, but the satellites also bring unique properties to a firefight.

“When there is a fire, there is a lot of smoke, and these satellites can see through the smoke and find exactly where the hot spots are, where the fires are burning,” HSC President Emmanuel Rammos told Al Jazeera.

That can help direct helicopters and planes to perform more precise water bombings.

“The satellites can tell us where the fire fronts are at night, which is extremely useful for the fire service when it’s planning the first morning water-bombing flights,” Tryfon Farmakakis, a space systems scientist at the HSC, told Al Jazeera.

These satellites, which are less than half a metre long, about the size of a briefcase, can also provide tactically important details of the terrain to commanders.

“When you are fighting a fire, it’s good to know where the buildings are, if there are high-tension cables, if there are water reservoirs or access roads,” Rammos said.

The four satellites form a necklace following the same Earth orbit from the South Pole to the North Pole, and each of them passes over Greece approximately twice a day.

To have a constant, real-time picture of the country’s 132,000 square kilometres (51,000 square miles), the HSC has access to about 20 others owned by OroraTech, which built the Greek satellites.

Greece is also launching seven more satellites this year, built by Open Cosmos, which will be multi-spectral – meaning they can observe the Earth using different light frequencies.

They, too, will help detect fires, but can also monitor environmental health.

“They allow us to estimate chlorophyll content, the vitality of vegetation, water stress, the presence of pathogens and the health of forests in general,” said Farmakakis.

With 10,000 fires a year, watching forests like a hawk

Greece’s fire service has been undergoing a broader technological upgrade.

Until two years ago, fire warnings came from patrols, fire engines dispersed on mountains and lookout posts.

But Greece now reports about 10,000 forest and field fires a year.

Such conventional means cannot cover the terrain, let alone quickly, and early warning is critical to stop any one of these fires from spreading to catastrophic proportions.

That is what happened in August 2021, when a fire raged in the posh Athens suburb of Varibobi, requiring dozens of fire trucks, planes and helicopters.

At the same time, a small fire near Limni, on the island of Evia, went unattended for two days, until the wind whipped it up into an inferno that devastated the better part of 100,000 hectares (247,100 acres) of pine forest.

It happened again in August 2023, when several simultaneous fires thought to have been sparked by a lightning storm devastated 72,000 hectares (178,000 acres) of Western Thrace and East Macedonia.

In 2024, the fire service started using aerial drones. It now flies them 24 hours a day, watching forests and suburban areas across the country.

They provide a live video feed and thermal imaging to regional operations centres and a national crisis management centre.

“Two years ago, we were operating 40 drones, last year 80, and this year 105,” fire brigadier Alexandros Papaioannou told Al Jazeera. “Drones have changed firefighting operations because until now, fires were spotted by lookouts eight or 10 metres [26 or 32 feet] off the ground. Drones now fly at 120 metres [400 feet], have a more powerful zoom than a pair of binoculars, and can share video for 10 or 15 people to evaluate.”

He explained why real-time information is important.

“You can put out a fire with a glass of water if you spot it within a minute, and with a bucket of water within two minutes. Every minute that passes it gets bigger,” Papaioannou said.

‘Satellites offer the big picture’

Drones are also helping the fire service’s forensic department clamp down on fires caused by human activity, whether negligent or malicious.

The fire service made 228 arrests in 2022 and 206 arrests in 2023. In 2024 and 2025, when drones were in use, arrests doubled to 430 and 423, respectively.

There has been a corresponding rise in fines, from under 300,000 euros ($342,000) in 2022-23 to 1.5 million euros ($1.7m) last year.

Drones “contribute decisively” to investigating fires, the Directorate for Countering Crimes of Arson (DAEE) told Al Jazeera, by providing “crucial early evidence … about the direction of the fire and shape of the terrain”, helping to reconstruct the event.

Satellites and drones are set to remain a vital part of Greece’s firefighting response, says Iasonas Aliferis, secretary-general of the Association of Graduate Fire Service Officers.

“Satellites offer the big picture, drones and aeroplanes offer the tactical picture, and ground personnel offer the operational truth,” Aliferis told Al Jazeera. “We’re moving from a reactive model of response to a model of prevention, monitoring, early warning, rapid reaction and grounded operational decision-making.”