Sherwood fire Jan 2018

The Sherwood fire took place on the 6th January 2018, in the south east of South Australia. The FireFlight aerial fire mapping system operated over the fireground for approximately 1.5 hours, at an average height of 9000 feet above ground level. During the time on site the system performed 16 passes across the fireground, as depicted by the image below (click for larger image).

A composite image of the fire is shown below. Note that this image represents the progression of the fire over a period of 90 minutes: some parts of the image are 90 minutes older than other parts of the image. Since the fire was fast moving, it changed a lot over that 90 minute period. Therefore this image cannot be viewed as a “snapshot”, but rather a “composite”. (Click image for larger view.)

Key to the above image:

  • Coloured background from Google Earth
  • Grey/black areas are those areas where thermal imagery was acquired
  • Orange is any ground that is at least 50 degrees centrigrade
  • Yellow is any ground that is 200 degrees centigrade or above

The individual passes flown across the fire can be viewed in high resolution, and overlaid on to Google Maps, using the links below:

About the FireFlight aerial fire mapping system

The FireFlight aerial fire mapping system has been developed by Spatial Scientific Pty. Ltd., an Adelaide (Australia) based spatial technology company. Important features of the FireFlight system include:

  • A combination of thermal imaging cameras with high precision GPS and advanced data processing software.
  • Specifically designed for use on manned aircraft and helicopters (we do not use drones at this stage, and we do not fly drones near fires).
  • An ability to map fires in and deliver data (such as that shown above) in real time. Data is available within one minute of being acquired.
  • The FireFlight system is cost-effective: it can be deployed on multiple aircraft, each positioned in high fire danger zones.
  • Although developed in Australia, the FireFlight system can be deployed worldwide.

Please contact us for further information. An information sheet describing the FireFlight system is available here.

Sherwood fire: an aerial view

Further images of the Sherwood fire that we snapped out of the window whilst overhead (click images for high resolution versions, see blow for copyright notice):

If you wish to use any of the images on this page, please contact us first. Copyright of all the imagery and data on this website rests with Spatial Scientific Pty. Ltd.