For a fire, you just need three ingredients.

You need something to burn.

You need weather conditions that are dry enough to allow that fire to happen.

And you need an ignition.

There's always a fire burning someplace on Earth. And we know that because we have satellites that give us coverage of the whole globe every day.

Every year from space we detect more than a million large fires.

A large fire in this case might be something the size of 40 acres or larger.

Each of those fires represents those same common ingredients that are needed to burn.

And most of those fires are started by people.

Fires that spread over many days actually account for most of the burning, we will

ultimately detect and map from space. Those fires are more typically called wildfires because

they've escaped the management control and burned for many days.

This is NASA's curious universe.

Our universe is a wild and wonderful place.

I'm your host, Patty Boyd, and in this podcast, NASA is your tour guide.

Wildfires are extremely destructive forces of nature.

When they get out of control, they can burn down buildings and destroy forests.

With climate change, wildfires are becoming more frequent and more destructive,

and burning in places they never have before.

NASA, NOAA, and other government agencies use satellites to track fires from space.

With a view from above, we can prioritize on a global scale

which fires need to be put out and which can keep burning without harming anyone.

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