Detecção de foco de incêndio subterrâneo em turfa por câmera portátil termal

The underground peat fires occur in the region of swamps in the Cerrado Biome of the Distrito Federal in the dry season. Usually starting after a surface fire and being extremely devastating to the local ecosystem and especially to the soil. Its severity can become so great that if not controlled the fires can burn until the first rains put them out. The detection of fire outbreaks of this type are not easy to see in the visible spectrum, because they occur in the subsoil, and to walk with fire under the feet to identify outbreaks is not safe. Therefore, we used a radiometer that operates in the long thermal infrared to observe its efficiency in detecting outbreaks in a real fire event that occurred in an Environmental Protection Area. Pictures in the soil after the control of the surface fire and aerial images on the following morning were obtained. It was observed that there is a clear identification of foci with behavior patterns of firing equal to experiments conducted by other researchers as well as to generate aerial images allow quick recognition for teams fighting on the ground. The use of thermal sensor enables rapid detection, thus providing the combat teams' quick action to extinguish the fire.