FIRE-SAT System for the Near Real Time Monitoring of Burned Areas and Fire Severity Using Sentinel-2: The Case Study of the Basilicata Region

Since the 2007, the FIRE-SAT system has been developed for the operational monitoring of fires in the Basilicata Region, as the results of a systematic collaboration between the Civil Protection of the Basilicata Region and the Argon Laboratory of the Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA) of the CNR-National Council of Research. FIRE-SAT has a modular structure defined ad hoc for the different steps of the risk management: from the dynamic forecast of the wildfire hazard, to the mapping of the areas crossed by the wildfire, from the assessment of the fire impact (on vegetation, soil and atmosphere), to the estimation of the post-fire risk, such as erosion, increased hydrogeological crisis, biodiversity loss. This paper provides an overview of the FIRE-SAT capability to mapping wildfires in the immediate aftermath of the event, to support post-event mitigation decisions. The system is based on the acquisition of satellite Sentinel-2 leveraged for the immediate mapping of burned areas, the estimation of fire severity and the long term post fire monitoring to assess the vegetation recovery capability.