Amidst a challenging week in July, accounts reveal that firefighters battled persistently while wildfires raged on the Greek islands of Kos, Chios, and Crete. Authorities in the Spanish region of Extremadura mobilized 60 personnel to manage a forest fire — among 18 imperiling the area. A wildfire in the Paphos district of Cyprus, reportedly ignited due to light refracted through shattered glass. It is estimated that fire-prone areas in Europe have doubled over the past half-century.
Through the utilization of AI technology, discerning wildfire boundary tracking is displayed on Search and Maps and distributed via location-based push notifications. Currently, during this exceptional summer, this feature is being extended to 15 countries across Europe and Africa:
- Andorra
- Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- France
- Greece
- Italy
- Kenya
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Portugal
- Rwanda
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Türkiye
This critical information is being disseminated through alerts and functionalities offering guidance on how to ensure safety for those in close proximity to a wildfire.
Dependable and Precise Tracking
Google’s AI-driven wildfire tracking model is trained on diverse data sources, including an array of satellite imagery datasets. The accuracy of our wildfire model is further verified by cross-referencing it with our own model of fire scars — patterns identified post-containment following previous wildfire incidents. Various AI models are employed to confirm the existence of fires, collectively facilitating more precise and unequivocal wildfire boundaries than what satellite imagery alone can provide.
Accessible and Valuable Information in Times of Need
As we’ve introduced this new functionality over the summer, we have tracked over 40 wildfires in southern Europe, encompassing blazes from Spain, Greece, and Cyprus last month, along with others spanning from Portugal to Kenya.
