The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has announced that its satellite imagery-based Advanced Fire Information System’s (AFIS’) active fire location layer is now available to the public and media, without needing to log-in. This will allow them to monitor active wildfires across the whole of the country. This is currently particularly relevant to the Western Cape province, where summer is the dry season, and where there have been a series of major wildfires in recent weeks.  

AFIS provides near-real-time fire detection, with updates every half-hour or so, as new satellite imagery becomes available. It also provides an alert capability, notifying users of active wildfires, allowing early warning and rapid response. It can be viewed via the AFIS Map Viewer.

The system further incorporates the CSIR’s implementation of the Canadian Fire Weather Index as well as the Lowveld Fire Danger Index. These features support firefighting preparedness and operational decision-making.

“The system strengthens wildfire risk mitigation efforts for fire protection associations, farmers, businesses and communities helping to protect lives, livelihoods, ecosystems and commercial assets,” highlights the CSIR.

The AFIS also holds a record of all the wildfires across the entire country over the past 20-plus years. This provides invaluable data for the analysis of wildfire trends, as well as the mapping of recurring wildfire hotspots, the reinforcement of risk models and the support of post-wildfire assessment. It also helps planning and decision-making by government, researchers, insurers and landowners.    

The CSIR, which falls under the aegis of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, is one of the country’s, and indeed the African continent’s, leading scientific and technological research, development and implementation organisations. Created by an Act of Parliament in 1945, the agency celebrated its eightieth anniversary last year.

“[T]he CSIR undertakes directed and multidisciplinary research and technological innovation, as well as industrial and scientific development, to improve the quality of life of all South Africans,” it explains.