FIRMS Wildfire & Hotspots (NASA)
Quick answer: NASA FIRMS provides near-real-time global fire hotspots from MODIS and VIIRS with brightness, confidence, and FRP attributes — available through a key-free CSV directory or a free-key area API.
Next step
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Open a GeoJSON result in the browser to inspect its map and attributes before sharing or converting it again.
Format
CSV / Shapefile / KML / GeoJSON
Geometry
Point (fire hotspots)
Coverage
Global
Resolution
375 m (VIIRS) / 1 km (MODIS)
About this dataset
NASA FIRMS near-real-time active fire detections from MODIS (1 km) and VIIRS (375 m), with a key-free CSV directory and an API for larger pulls.
NASA FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) distributes global active fire detections within about three hours of satellite overpass. MODIS (1 km) covers 2000 onward; VIIRS (375 m) from 2012. Each hotspot carries brightness temperature, detection confidence, acquisition date/time, day-night flag, and Fire Radiative Power (FRP). Two access paths exist: the public CSV directory (no key required, files such as MODIS_C6_1_Global_24h.csv) and the area API, which needs a free MAP_KEY and allows 5,000 transactions per 10 minutes.
How to download
- 1 Check the live wildfire layer (/api/live/wildfires) for current hotspots in the browser.
- 2 For automation, request a free MAP_KEY and call the area API with a bounding box and day range.
- 3 Skip the key entirely for the newest 24-hour global CSV — it is published openly.
- 4 Import hotspots into GIS and join with vegetation or population layers for fire risk mapping.
Key-free global 24h CSV (VIIRS S-NPP)
Direct download, no MAP_KEY needed
Area API (needs free MAP_KEY)
5,000 transactions per 10 minutes per key
FIRMS Download
Historical fire data by date range and region
Fire Map
Interactive wildfire map
Live layer on this site
Edge-proxied active fire points, normalised to GeoJSON
FAQ
VIIRS vs MODIS?
VIIRS offers 375m resolution (3x finer than MODIS 1km) with improved nighttime detection. MODIS provides longer historical coverage since 2000.
How fast is the data?
Near-real-time data is available within 3 hours of satellite overpass.
Do I need an API key?
Not for the newest 24-hour global CSV files — those are published openly. The area API does require a free MAP_KEY, with a quota of 5,000 transactions per 10 minutes.
What does confidence mean?
For VIIRS, confidence is a 0–100% detection confidence; MODIS reports low/nominal/high. Filter to high confidence for fewer false positives in agricultural burning areas.