Alaska Uses QuickBird Satellite Imagery for Fire Response

DigitalGlobe, a Longmont, Colo.-based satellite imagery firm, said that its QuickBird satellite images were used recently by Alaska’s Forestry Division to help firefighters navigate wildfires. Fires began blazing through forested areas about 80 miles south of Fairbanks at the end of May.

The 60-centimeter resolution black-and-white QuickBird images show trails and roads, building structures and fire-prone vegetation. Firefighters used the images for locational mapping to determine where endangered structures existed, which residents should be evacuated, where emergency personnel should be dispatched and where firelines should be constructed.