Fire risk: hotspots and risk scoring

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.

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.

Satellite sources

Control which satellite’s data is queried with the source parameter:

Value	Satellite	Notes
`VIIRS_SNPP_NRT`	Suomi NPP / VIIRS	Default — 375 m resolution, high sensitivity
`MODIS_NRT`	Terra and Aqua / MODIS	1 km resolution, longer record
`VIIRS_NOAA20_NRT`	NOAA-20 / VIIRS	Same 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.

Hotspot fields

Each hotspot in the /fires/hotspots response represents a single satellite fire detection pixel:

Field	Type	Description
`lat`	float	Hotspot centroid latitude
`lon`	float	Hotspot centroid longitude
`brightness`	float \| null	Brightness temperature (K) from channel Ti4
`frp`	float \| null	Fire Radiative Power (MW) — proxy for fire intensity
`acq_date`	string \| null	Acquisition date (`YYYY-MM-DD`)
`acq_time`	string \| null	Acquisition time (UTC, `HHMM`)
`satellite`	string \| null	Satellite identifier
`confidence`	string \| null	Detection confidence (`low`, `nominal`, `high`)

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:

Density component — hotspot count divided by the search area (π × radius²) in km², scaled by 1000, then multiplied by 20.
High-confidence component — proportion of hotspots rated high or nominal confidence, multiplied by 30.
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.

Risk labels

Label	Score range	Interpretation
`Alto`	≥ 60	Significant active fire activity; high crop and soil risk
`Medio`	30–59	Moderate fire presence; monitor and prepare contingency
`Bajo`	< 30	Low 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.

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.

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 }

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.

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Core Concepts

Guides

Fire risk: hotspots and risk scoring

Data source

Satellite sources

Hotspot fields

Risk score formula

Risk labels

Temporal window

Caching

Sample response

​Data source

​Satellite sources

​Hotspot fields

​Risk score formula

​Risk labels

​Temporal window

​Caching

​Sample response

Data source

Satellite sources

Hotspot fields

Risk score formula

Risk labels

Temporal window

Caching

Sample response