LONGMONT, Colo. — DigitalGlobeTM announced today that its QuickBird satellite
images were recently used by the State of Alaska’s Forestry Division to help
firefighters navigate wildfires. Fires began blazing through forested areas
about 80 miles south of Fairbanks on May 26 and have since been contained.
The 60-centimeter resolution black-and-white QuickBird(tm) images, collected in
August 2002, show trails and roads, building structures and fire prone
vegetation. Firefighters used the images for locational mapping to determine
where endangered structures existed, which residents should be evacuated, where
emergency personnel should be dispatched and where firelines should be constructed.
Large print-outs of the QuickBird images were posted on fire department dispatch
walls so fire dispatches could quickly map out response routes, while smaller
copies were distributed to division supervisors for key emergency personnel as
they were dispatched to fight fires.
According to Marc Lee, Fairbanks Area forester for the Alaska Department of
Natural Resources (DNR) Forestry Division, the QuickBird images proved to be
critical resource for quick responses by the Division of Forestry and
cooperating fire departments. "Using the images, we were able to better locate
threatened structures and improve our deployment of firefighting forces. We
identified several structures and one house that had been destroyed," said Lee.
"We also added power line coverages in a geographic information system (GIS) so
we would know which power lines were threatened and where to turn off
electricity, so firefighters’ lives wouldn’t be endangered," Lee added.
Wildfires are a common occurrence in the interior of Alaska, where black spruce
trees, an extremely fire prone species, are abundant. The 2.44-meter resolution,
multispectral QuickBird images were used to identify black spruce as well as
trails and ponds. In the past, Alaska firefighters had relied on
one-inch-to-the-mile quadrangle maps to help them navigate their way around an
area during a fire. The quad maps do not indicate trails, roads, structures,
vegetation such as black spruce, and many other features important to
firefighters. QuickBird imagery, by contrast, depicts these details.
"Using the imagery, one can see which ponds helicopters can access for dipping
buckets, where firelines should be constructed, which creeks to set a back burn
from, and which trails a light fire engine can navigate," explained Lee.
The Alaska DNR started acquiring QuickBird data in May 2002 to provide basic
mapping services for several of the state’s local communities. The image
products of the Fairbanks area provide a critical resource for emergency service
organizations in support of a project called "Community Fire Planning Using
GIS," funded by the National Fire Planning Initiative.
In addition, QuickBird imagery covering an 11,475 square-mile area in Alaska’s
Tanana Valley supports a NASA grant the state won in 2001. A long-term goal of
the NASA proposal is the development of base data necessary to support fire
behavior software that predicts wildfire spread. The project will include the
creation of a database of fuel models based on vegetation mapping to help the
Division of Forestry identify fire prone areas, calculate rates of spread and
demonstrate parameters associated with fire spread such as fuel types, weather
and wind speed.
"Threat from wildfire is an annual danger faced by Alaska’s towns and villages.
During the last decade in the Tanana Valley, numerous wildfires consumed
valuable resources and threatened and destroyed people’s properties and homes,"
said Lee. "Coupled with this challenge, Alaska’s large size and remote access
severely limits the traditional ground intensive mapping approach. Knowledge and
management of forest fuels, community facilities and transportation systems are
essential to minimize fire losses and maximize fire protection.
"Because of its high-resolution and accuracy, QuickBird is perhaps the only
practical solution to solving this mapping dilemma and providing resources for
emergency service organizations," Lee concluded.
About DigitalGlobe: www.digitalglobe.com
DigitalGlobe is an Earth imagery and information company in Longmont, Colorado,
USA. With the 2001 launch of its QuickBird satellite, DigitalGlobe has
established a market leadership position. The company provides the world’s
highest resolution commercial satellite imagery, the greatest collection
capacity, the most up-to-date archive and the largest image size of any other
satellite imagery provider. The competition has no plans to launch a comparable
commercial satellite until at least 2006. In addition to offering technical
superiority, DigitalGlobe distinguishes itself in the market through its
commitment to excellent customer service, relationships with business partners
and open-systems philosophy. More information can be found at www.digitalglobe.com .
