Greece Builds High-Tech Wildfire Warning Network as Heat-Seeking Satellites Track Forests, Smoke and Fire Fronts

Greece watches its forests from space

In a northern suburb of Athens, Greece, nine storeys above the ground, half a dozen young engineers study images from satellites orbiting 550 kilometres above Earth.

The room looks ordinary at first. Then the wall-sized screen at the end of the tasking room reveals the scale of the work.

Greece is using its first satellites with thermal imaging technology, a new tool designed to transform wildfire response in a country that suffers heavily each summer. At a time when climate change is bringing drought and frequent wildfires, the country is building a larger arsenal of high-tech surveillance to help firefighters move before flames grow out of control.

Thermal satellites can help predict where fires may start

The four satellites can monitor ground temperature and humidity. That information can help predict where a forest fire may happen in the next few hours, a capability the Hellenic Fire Service has not previously had with this level of accuracy.

Once a fire breaks out, the Hellenic Space Center can model how it may spread by mapping vegetation and elevation. That can help commanders decide where to send fire trucks and, in terrain that vehicles cannot cross, foot patrols known as forest commandos.

The goal is faster reaction. If the fire service knows where danger is building, it can pre-position assets and shorten response times.

Satellites can see through smoke

During a wildfire, smoke can hide the most dangerous parts of the blaze from people on the ground and from aircraft above. Thermal satellites can cut through that confusion by identifying heat.

Emmanuel Rammos: “When there is a fire, there is a lot of smoke, and these satellites can see through the smoke and find exactly where the hot spots are, where the fires are burning."

That information can help helicopters and planes carry out more precise water bombings.

The satellites can also help at night, when pilots and ground crews need to understand where fire fronts remain active before the next morning’s operations.

Tryfon Farmakakis: “The satellites can tell us where the fire fronts are at night, which is extremely useful for the fire service when it’s planning the first morning water-bombing flights."

Small satellites, tactical details

The satellites are less than half a metre long, roughly the size of a briefcase. Their size is small, but the information they provide can be tactically important.

They can show details of the terrain around a fire, including buildings, access roads, water reservoirs and high-tension cables.

Emmanuel Rammos: “When you are fighting a fire, it’s good to know where the buildings are, if there are high-tension cables, if there are water reservoirs or access roads."

The four satellites follow the same orbit from the South Pole to the North Pole. Each passes over Greece about twice a day.

To maintain a constant, real-time picture of the country’s 132,000 square kilometres, the Hellenic Space Center also has access to about 20 other satellites owned by OroraTech, the company that built the Greek satellites.

More satellites will monitor forest health

Greece is also launching seven more satellites this year. They are being built by Open Cosmos and will be multi-spectral, meaning they can observe Earth through different light frequencies.

These satellites will also help detect fires, but their role will extend beyond emergency response. They can monitor environmental health, including the condition of vegetation and forests.

Tryfon Farmakakis: “They allow us to estimate chlorophyll content, the vitality of vegetation, water stress, the presence of pathogens and the health of forests in general."

That kind of monitoring can help show where forests are under stress before smoke appears on the horizon.

Greece faces about 10,000 fires a year

Greece now reports about 10,000 forest and field fires a year. Conventional warning systems can no longer cover the terrain quickly enough.

Until two years ago, fire warnings came from patrols, fire engines placed on mountains and lookout posts. Those systems still matter, but the scale of the risk has changed.

Early warning is critical. A small fire can be controlled quickly. A delayed response can allow flames to spread into catastrophic fire fronts.

That happened in August 2021. A fire in Varibobi, Greece, a wealthy suburb of Athens, required dozens of fire trucks, planes and helicopters. At the same time, a small fire near Limni, Greece, on the island of Evia, Greece, went unattended for two days.

The fire grew into an inferno and devastated the better part of 100,000 hectares of pine forest.

Simultaneous fires exposed the scale of the threat

In August 2023, Greece faced another severe fire episode. Several simultaneous fires, thought to have been sparked by a lightning storm, devastated 72,000 hectares of Western Thrace, Greece, and East Macedonia, Greece.

The events showed how quickly multiple fires can overwhelm traditional monitoring and response systems.

When several fires burn at once, decisions become harder. Fire trucks, aircraft and crews must be assigned with limited time and incomplete visibility. Satellite data and drone feeds are now becoming central to that decision-making process.

Drones now watch forests day and night

Greece’s fire service has also expanded its drone operations. In 2024, it began using aerial drones more widely. It now flies them 24 hours a day, watching forests and suburban areas across the country.

The drones provide live video and thermal imaging to regional operations centres and the national crisis management centre.

Alexandros Papaioannou: “Two years ago, we were operating 40 drones, last year 80, and this year 105."

Alexandros Papaioannou: “Drones have changed firefighting operations because until now, fires were spotted by lookouts eight or 10 metres off the ground. Drones now fly at 120 metres, have a more powerful zoom than a pair of binoculars, and can share video for 10 or 15 people to evaluate."

The view is higher. The picture is sharper. More people can assess the same fire in real time.

Every minute changes the size of a fire

Real-time information matters because wildfire response is a race against growth. The sooner a fire is found, the easier it is to stop.

Alexandros Papaioannou: “You can put out a fire with a glass of water if you spot it within a minute, and with a bucket of water within two minutes. Every minute that passes it gets bigger."

That is the logic behind Greece’s move toward satellites, drones and constant monitoring. The aim is not only to fight bigger fires more effectively, but to find smaller fires before they become major emergencies.

Drones also help investigate arson and negligence

Drones are also helping the fire service’s forensic department investigate fires caused by human activity, whether negligent or malicious.

The fire service made 228 arrests in 2022 and 206 arrests in 2023. In 2024 and 2025, when drones were in use, arrests doubled to 430 and 423.

Fines also rose, from under 300,000 euros in 2022 and 2023 to 1.5 million euros last year.

The Directorate for Countering Crimes of Arson said drones “contribute decisively" to investigations by providing “crucial early evidence … about the direction of the fire and shape of the terrain", helping reconstruct what happened.

From reaction to prevention

Satellites and drones are expected to remain a key part of Greece’s wildfire response. Each tool has a different role.

Satellites give broad national coverage. Drones and aircraft provide closer tactical detail. Firefighters on the ground confirm the operational reality.

Iasonas Aliferis: “Satellites offer the big picture, drones and aeroplanes offer the tactical picture, and ground personnel offer the operational truth."

Iasonas Aliferis: “We’re moving from a reactive model of response to a model of prevention, monitoring, early warning, rapid reaction and grounded operational decision-making."

What the new wildfire system brings

• Thermal satellite monitoring of ground temperature and humidity to help predict where fires may develop.
• Fire spread modelling using vegetation and elevation data.
• Smoke-penetrating heat detection to locate active hot spots during a fire.
• Night-time fire front mapping to support first morning water-bombing plans.
• Terrain intelligence showing buildings, high-tension cables, water reservoirs and access roads.
• Drone surveillance operating 24 hours a day over forests and suburban areas.
• Forensic support for investigations into negligent or malicious fire causes.