29 May 2024

Earth Fire Alliance: Understanding Wildfires for a Safer Planet

Philanthropic organization founded to provide breakthrough data, additional tools, and targeted technology in response to conversations with fire agencies and climate scientists.

Founding philanthropic supporters including Environmental Defense Fund, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Google.org, and the Minderoo Foundation, and others have contributed to stand up the new purpose-built organization.  

As wildfires are projected to increase up to33% by 2050, new research highlights early detection could reduce annual direct fire damage costs by approximately US$ 1.2billion across Australia, USA, and Southern Europe alone. Earth Fire Alliance asserts the most significant, and harder to quantify savings, will be from data-driven initiatives beyond suppression that discern beneficial fires from potential disasters, helping restore a natural balance with wildfire.

Leadership strengthened by new Board of Directors also announced today.

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San Francisco, California, May 29, 2024:  Today marks the public announcement of Earth Fire Alliance, the global non-profit coalition committed to delivering transformative real-time data and insights from all wildfires on Earth. Wildfires are increasing in frequency and intensity; early detection and prevention can help minimize costs and damages sustainably, and potentially save lives. Extreme wildfires are projected to increase up to 33% by 2050. According to a new study commissioned by Earth Fire Alliance, the yearly cost to states in the US alone is over $11bn directly and $415bn indirectly.

Earth Fire Alliance believes a united global response to the wildfire crisis is possible, and that a data-driven response will lead to proactive stewardship, that includes adaptation and beneficial fire practices.

Committed to fast action, Earth Fire Alliance is already in the build phase of their flagship program, a 50+ satellite constellation called FireSat. Developed in partnership with frontline fire chiefs, scientists, and climate experts, FireSat will be a first-of-its-kind satellite constellation to focus specifically on wildfire, conditions, and ecological effects. With its full constellation of satellites, FireSat will scan the globe for wildfire activity every 20 minutes analyzing the landscape across six different spectral bands to see wildfires through clouds, smoke, darkness, and extreme sunlight. FireSat data products will inform our frontline where wildfires are, how fast they are moving, and how hot they are burning, helping agencies around the world protect their communities. Continuous global monitoring of conditions and impacts will enable a more comprehensive understanding and mitigation of the extreme carbon impacts from megafires.  

Today, Earth Fire Alliance also announces the following Board appointments, effective immediately:

• Dr. Ann Bartuska brings extensive expertise in forestry and ecosystem health and a lengthy career of government service, with former leadership positions at both the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Forest Service. Dr. Bartuska now serves as a  Senior Contributing Scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund
• Chris Van Arsdale brings deep technical expertise with a career in large scale computational programs, remote sensing, and informational retrieval projects focusing on Climate Change
• Chris Anthony brings over 25 years of field and executive level experience in resource management, wildfire resiliency, fire prevention, fire suppression, and cooperative fire protection, serving as the former Chief Deputy Director at CAL FIRE

The Board of Directors join the organizing team, which includes Ann Kapusta (formerly NASA), Brian Collins (formerly Intterra), Karen O’Connor (formerly Minderoo Foundation), Keith Masback (formerly US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation).

‍Chris Anthony, Earth Fire Alliance, comments: “On behalf of our philanthropic partners and management team, I am delighted to unveil the vision for Earth Fire Alliance alongside our FireSat constellation which will fundamentally change our management approach and response to wildfire. Globally, wildfires are increasing in size and severity impacting lives, communities, critical infrastructure and watersheds at alarming rates and at significant costs. Underpinning the FireSat constellation is the ability to detect, assess, respond, and monitor fires more quickly and with better accuracy, providing the types of granular intelligence authorities need to inform their decision making.”

Brian Collins, Earth Fire Alliance Executive Director, brings decades of experience in fire data and remote sensing technologies.

‍“Earth Fire Alliance can commit to the first 3 of our FireSat constellation being operational by 2026,” says Collins. “This initial capability will offer the full resolution, hotspot detection, and multi-spectral observation capabilities at 3 rapid intervals twice daily in key geographies. This presents critical information on how to manage risks and deploy resources when and where needed.”

‍Coupled with the announcement of the formation of Earth Fire Alliance, the organization has also today published new economic research in partnership with Mandala Partners, “A Global Sampling of Wildfire Economic Impact: The Benefits of a Dedicated Satellite Constellation to Detect and Monitor Wildfires”. This landmark research reaffirms the need from fire agencies globally to improve early detection to limit wildfire damage, and the role that satellite technology can play in providing a valuable source of information for authorities. ‍

‍Notably:‍

1. Avoided damage from early detection is estimated at 7% of total cost estimates across Australia, the USA and Southern Europe – representing approximately US$1.2billion a year.
2. The number of high-risk days for extreme fire weather could increase by an average of 3 additional days per year versus the 1990-2010 average (to 21 days per year). This assumes staying within the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target. Surpassing 1.5° could elevate this to 24-40 days per year.
3. Prolonged and frequent wildfires pose a significant and escalating threat to natural capital, as they can lead to significant land use changes, disrupt flora and fauna populations, causing localized extinctions, and increase atmospheric aerosols whilst reducing natural carbon stocks.  
4. Bushfires directly cost Australia AUD$1.4billion annually, however the indirect costs are even more significant, with AUD$2.2 billion in labor productivity losses and an additional AUD$0.8billion annually in health costs.
5. Wildfires directly cost the USA US$11.3 billion annually, with the largest component being property damages. However, the indirect costs of wildfire could be as large as US$415 billion annually, with US$208 billion in labor productivity losses and an additional US$207 billion in health costs.
6. Southern European countries impacted to the tune of €1.4billion annually, comprising €0.4 billion in costs borne by Portugal and Spain, €0.3billion by Italy, €0.2 billion by Greece and €0.1 billion by France. The largest component of this is carbon costs which represented €0.9billion.

‍Kate Dargan Marquis, retired California State Fire Marshal, current Senior Advisor, Wildfire Resilience Initiative at the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, comments: “The alarming statistics and analysis presented in this research reaffirm that disaster fires are a global problem causing large scale destruction economically, socially, and environmentally. Strikingly, almost half (46%) of the wildfire costs are borne by local communities and businesses. On many occasions, these fires often affect those already exposed to greater disadvantage. The potential for using satellite technology for surveillance and detection is transformational – for the first time giving fire agencies continuous monitoring and near real time information of fire spread and intensity within the fire perimeter. Once operational, the data received from FireSat will give fire agencies across the globe the much-needed ability to transition from a century-old fire suppression model to a beneficial fire management model, without putting communities in harm’s way.“