NOAA HMS Fire Detection

NOAA Satellite Analysis Branch's daily analysis of satellite hotspot and fire locations for North America.

This layer shows potential fire locations identified on satellite imagery by the NOAA Hazard Mapping System (HMS) that are deemed to be associated with biomass burning, including wildfires, prescribed and agricultural fires. This is a blended product composed of fire detection data from GOES/ABI, the JPSS/VIIRS and EOS/MODIS sensors. A quality control procedure is performed using both machine- and analyst-based data screening, thereby discarding detections associated with industrial activity (ex., steel mills, gas flares, power plants) as well as potential false alarms caused by solar panels and other highly reflective surfaces, while also correcting for potential omission errors in the automated satellite fire products. A new daily map is typically initiated around 7-8am Eastern Time, and updated multiple times until the next morning as data becomes available. The information on fire position should be used as general guidance and for strategic planning. Tactical decisions, such as the activation of a response to fight these fires and evacuation efforts, should not be made without other information to corroborate the fire's existence and location. 
Users should note:
  • The initial HMS product for the current day is created and updated by a satellite analyst roughly between 8am and 10am Eastern Time. After 10am, the analysis is fine-tuned as time permits as additional satellite data becomes available. Areas of smoke are analyzed and added to the analysis during daylight hours as visible satellite imagery becomes available. The product is finalized and "completed" for the archive the following morning - generally by around 8:00am.

  • The fire sizes depicted in the product are primarily determined by the field of view of the satellite instrument, or the resolution of the analysis tool. They should not be used to estimate specific fire perimeters.

  • The ability to detect fires and smoke can be compromised by many factors, including cloud cover, tree canopy, terrain, the size of the fire or smoke plume, the time of the day, etc. The satellite sensors used to detect fires are sensitive to heat sources and reflected sunlight. Analysts do their best to distinguish between fires and other heat sources or highly reflective surfaces, such as factories, mines, gas flares, solar panels, clouds, etc. but some false detects do get included in the analysis.

Email your questions to the HMS fire team at: [email protected]

Datasets available for download

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated September 11, 2026, 07:29 (UTC)
Created March 24, 2026, 21:03 (UTC)
Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title
Title for the Dataset.
NOAA HMS Fire Detection
Description
A description of the dataset.

NOAA Satellite Analysis Branch's daily analysis of satellite hotspot and fire locations for North America.

This layer shows potential fire locations identified on satellite imagery by the NOAA Hazard Mapping System (HMS) that are deemed to be associated with biomass burning, including wildfires, prescribed and agricultural fires. This is a blended product composed of fire detection data from GOES/ABI, the JPSS/VIIRS and EOS/MODIS sensors. A quality control procedure is performed using both machine- and analyst-based data screening, thereby discarding detections associated with industrial activity (ex., steel mills, gas flares, power plants) as well as potential false alarms caused by solar panels and other highly reflective surfaces, while also correcting for potential omission errors in the automated satellite fire products. A new daily map is typically initiated around 7-8am Eastern Time, and updated multiple times until the next morning as data becomes available. The information on fire position should be used as general guidance and for strategic planning. Tactical decisions, such as the activation of a response to fight these fires and evacuation efforts, should not be made without other information to corroborate the fire's existence and location. 
Users should note:
  • The initial HMS product for the current day is created and updated by a satellite analyst roughly between 8am and 10am Eastern Time. After 10am, the analysis is fine-tuned as time permits as additional satellite data becomes available. Areas of smoke are analyzed and added to the analysis during daylight hours as visible satellite imagery becomes available. The product is finalized and "completed" for the archive the following morning - generally by around 8:00am.

  • The fire sizes depicted in the product are primarily determined by the field of view of the satellite instrument, or the resolution of the analysis tool. They should not be used to estimate specific fire perimeters.

  • The ability to detect fires and smoke can be compromised by many factors, including cloud cover, tree canopy, terrain, the size of the fire or smoke plume, the time of the day, etc. The satellite sensors used to detect fires are sensitive to heat sources and reflected sunlight. Analysts do their best to distinguish between fires and other heat sources or highly reflective surfaces, such as factories, mines, gas flares, solar panels, clouds, etc. but some false detects do get included in the analysis.

Email your questions to the HMS fire team at: [email protected]
Tags / Keywords
Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
9.34
Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
2021-05-25
Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
Field Value
Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
public
License
License used to access the dataset.
Creative Commons CCZero
Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
Location
Location of the dataset.
https://climat.esri.ca/datasets/noaa::noaa-hms-fire-detection
Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner
Owner of the dataset.
NESDIS.SAB_noaa
Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
NOAA GeoPlatform
Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
[email protected]
Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
NOAA GeoPlatform
Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
Author
Author of the dataset.
NESDIS.SAB_noaa
Author Email
Email of the author.
Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
2026-09-03
Field Value
Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
6db1b46d55dc4145b93d8eb8e525906c
Language
Language(s) of the dataset
English
Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
https://climat.esri.ca/datasets/noaa::noaa-hms-fire-detection
Persistent Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type
Platform type of the source portal.
Field Value
Version
Version of the datatset
None
Source
Source of the dataset.
None
Version notes
Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset
Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions
Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
NOAA GeoPlatform
Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
Field Value
Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
Field Value
Number of data rows
If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
3661
Number of data columns
If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
18
Number of data cells
If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
65898
Number of data relations
If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities
If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties
If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality
A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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