Methodology

Information sources

Wildfire Watch monitors configured public sources from UK fire and rescue services. A published incident identifies the attributable public source used for the record. The service also uses NASA FIRMS satellite observations of unusual surface heat and weather information for the selected location. These are different kinds of evidence: an official incident is a report from an authority, a satellite observation is an unconfirmed heat detection, and weather describes conditions rather than the existence or future path of a fire.

Finding and reviewing incidents

Configured adapters retrieve public source material and look for governed wildfire and vegetation-fire indicators. Potential records enter an operator review process. Public incident pages are produced only from publication-approved records with attributable evidence, a usable location, freshness information, safety wording and an explicit lifecycle state. Automated extraction or platform-generated wording supports this process but does not turn an unreviewed candidate into a public incident.

Some satellite detections are grouped into interpreted thermal events. These remain unconfirmed unless an official source reports the incident. Industrial heat, controlled burning and other causes can resemble wildfire from space.

Updates, uncertainty and retirement

Records retain their stable identity as new attributable information is reviewed. The public page shows when a record was last verified or updated and labels uncertain, corrected, resolved or historic states. A stale report is not silently treated as extinguished. Corrections create a new revision or an explicit redirect, retraction or lifecycle record rather than rewriting the public history without explanation.

Limitations

Not every fire and rescue service publishes every attendance, and source access or adapters can fail. Satellites pass at intervals and observations can be delayed, duplicated, approximate or obscured by cloud and smoke. Weather and wind indicators do not model terrain, fuels or future fire spread. Therefore absence of an official report or satellite detection does not prove absence of fire, and proximity alone does not establish danger.