With South Africa now in the grip of veld fires in dry parts where the summer rains have not yet brought relief, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has announced that its Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS) has been upgraded.

AFIS is a satellite-based fire information tool that delivers locations of active fires in near-real time over southern and eastern Africa. The CSIR's expertise in remote sensing, in collaboration with Eskom, resulted in the development of this unique fire detection system that makes use of sensors on-board orbiting and geostationary satellites. The application of satellite remote sensing coupled with cell phone technology for distributing alert messages (or SMSs) has been the first of its kind in the world.

The new AFIS II user interface or viewer puts products into the hands of users. With all the features and more of the first version, AFIS II is more reliable, easier to manage and simpler to use. It uses data that are available within 10 minutes after the satellite passes overhead. Its enhanced features mean that government departments, such as the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, civil organisations such as Working on Fire and local fire protection associations, and utilities such as Eskom, are able to set up predefined user profiles to assist them in their tasks at national, municipal and provincial levels. For example, Eskom receives alerts whenever fires burn within one km of their transmission lines, which may cause line faults.

Commenting on the new features that make AFIS II an invaluable tool to be harnessed in the protection of human life, the built environment and national resources, researcher Philip Frost notes, “Through enhancements to the system we have made it possible for users to access more data sources through advanced query functions. The system can provide the active fire location data and it is also possible to get burnt area estimates from the satellite images.” By integrating information on wind speed and direction from 130 automated weather stations every hour, AFIS II is able to provide fire danger estimates.

AFIS II is open source-compliant (using free and open source software), making it interoperable, robust and easy to customise.

The AFIS II website can be found at http://afis.meraka.org.za and is open to the public.
For more information, please contact:

Tendani Tsedu
Media Relations Manager
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
Meiring Naude Road
Brummeria
Pretoria East
Tel: 012 841 3417
Fax: 012 841 4326
Cell: 082 945 1980