Wildfire risk data

Wildfires are intensifying with climate change, threatening assets and lives. Data helps anticipate and manage the risk. This guide covers wildfire risk data.

Why wildfire data matters now

Longer, more severe fire seasons raise risk for insurers, infrastructure and communities. Wildfire data supports risk assessment, early warning and response.

The data landscape

• Fuel and vegetation: what can burn.
• Fire weather: conditions driving spread.
• Active fire: satellite detection of fires.
• Risk indices: combined hazard ratings.

Common use cases

Insurance and catastrophe risk, infrastructure and asset protection, emergency planning and response, and land and forest management.

Earth observation backbone

Satellite EO underpins active-fire detection and fuel mapping (including Copernicus services), combined with weather and terrain. Timeliness matters for response.

Sourcing considerations

Much data is open but needs combining and matching to assets via geography. Risk-index methodologies vary, and provenance matters for insurance use.

In a managed model

A managed partner can combine fuel, weather and active-fire data into wildfire-risk indicators matched to assets.

Earth observation underpins it

Longer, more severe fire seasons raise wildfire risk for insurers, infrastructure and communities. Satellite EO underpins active-fire detection and fuel mapping (including Copernicus services), combined with fire-weather and terrain data; timeliness matters for response.

Match to assets

Much data is open but needs combining and matching to assets via geography, and risk-index methodologies vary, so document method and provenance for insurance use.

Sources & further reading

• Copernicus Emergency Management Service (fire).
• European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
• National fire and meteorological services.
• Scientific fire-risk models.