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The fire risk endpoints give you real-time visibility into active fires near any agricultural location in LATAM. Raw hotspot detections from NASA satellites are available through /fires/hotspots, and a pre-computed 0–100 risk score aggregated from those detections is available through /fires/risk. Both endpoints feed the fire and flood exposure factor used in crop aptitude scoring.

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Data source

Fire data comes from NASA FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) via the Area API. FIRMS aggregates active fire detections from multiple satellites and delivers near-real-time (NRT) records typically within 3 hours of the satellite overpass.

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Satellite sources

Control which satellite’s data is queried with the source parameter:
ValueSatelliteNotes
VIIRS_SNPP_NRTSuomi NPP / VIIRSDefault — 375 m resolution, high sensitivity
MODIS_NRTTerra and Aqua / MODIS1 km resolution, longer record
VIIRS_NOAA20_NRTNOAA-20 / VIIRSSame sensor as Suomi NPP, independent orbit
VIIRS_SNPP_NRT is the recommended default for agricultural monitoring because its 375 m pixel resolution detects smaller fires that MODIS may miss in fragmented landscapes.

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Hotspot fields

Each hotspot in the /fires/hotspots response represents a single satellite fire detection pixel:
FieldTypeDescription
latfloatHotspot centroid latitude
lonfloatHotspot centroid longitude
brightnessfloat | nullBrightness temperature (K) from channel Ti4
frpfloat | nullFire Radiative Power (MW) — proxy for fire intensity
acq_datestring | nullAcquisition date (YYYY-MM-DD)
acq_timestring | nullAcquisition time (UTC, HHMM)
satellitestring | nullSatellite identifier
confidencestring | nullDetection confidence (low, nominal, high)

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Risk score formula

The /fires/risk endpoint computes a single score from 0 to 100 using hotspot density, confidence weighting, and average Fire Radiative Power:
  1. Density component — hotspot count divided by the search area (π × radius²) in km², scaled by 1000, then multiplied by 20.
  2. High-confidence component — proportion of hotspots rated high or nominal confidence, multiplied by 30.
  3. FRP component — average FRP in MW divided by 5, capped at 50.
These three components are summed and clamped to the 0–100 range: 
score = min(100, density × 20 + (high_conf_ratio × 30) + min(avg_frp / 5, 50))
A location with zero hotspots always returns a score of 0. A dense cluster of high-confidence, high-FRP hotspots produces a score near 100.

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Risk labels

LabelScore rangeInterpretation
Alto≥ 60Significant active fire activity; high crop and soil risk
Medio30–59Moderate fire presence; monitor and prepare contingency
Bajo< 30Low fire activity in the area
A Bajo or Medio label reflects the situation at query time based on the last 5 days of satellite passes. Fire conditions can change rapidly. Do not rely solely on this score for emergency response decisions.

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Temporal window

The FIRMS Area API supports a look-back window of 1 to 5 days. Pass the days parameter to /fires/hotspots to control the window. Values outside the 1–5 range are automatically clamped. The /fires/risk endpoint always uses the maximum 5-day window to ensure the score reflects recent cumulative fire activity.

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Caching

Fire hotspot data is cached for 15 minutes. Because fire conditions are dynamic, the cache window is intentionally short. The _cache field in the response reports whether data came from the cache or a fresh FIRMS fetch: 
"_cache": { "hit": true, "stale": false, "age_sec": 342 }

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Sample response

The following is a representative response from GET /fires/risk?lat=-22.0&lon=-60.0&radius_km=150: 
{
  "lat": -22.0,
  "lon": -60.0,
  "radius_km": 150.0,
  "risk_score": 47,
  "risk_label": "Medio",
  "hotspot_count": 18,
  "_cache": {
    "hit": false,
    "stale": false,
    "age_sec": 0
  }
}
And a representative /fires/hotspots entry for one detection: 
{
  "lat": -22.143,
  "lon": -59.871,
  "brightness": 331.4,
  "frp": 12.6,
  "acq_date": "2026-05-17",
  "acq_time": "0412",
  "satellite": "N",
  "confidence": "nominal"
}
If no FIRMS_API_KEY environment variable is set, the API returns an empty hotspot list and a risk score of 0. Register for a free NASA Earthdata API key at earthdata.nasa.gov to enable live data.