LINCOLNVILLE – Sunday afternoon, firefighters responded to a 600-acre wildland fire near Lincolnville.
Chance Hayes, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service Wichita, spotted the fire using satellite thermal imagery on Sunday. Hayes was monitoring satellite feeds from the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service Group – a subsidiary of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.
“Once we recognize a hotspot, we can use our software to drop a pin on that location. That will send out a text to all the individuals in that county that want to be notified of a possible wildfire,” he said.
Hayes said from the time a hot spot is detected and pinned by data-watchers to the time an alert goes out is typically one to two minutes. Hayes said data-watchers can drop pins on potential fires with an accuracy of just a quarter-mile from a wildfire.