 worst forest fires in a hundred years. This summer, Wyoming Yellowstone National Park burned out of control. Extreme heat, low rainfall and powerful winds fueled fires that eventually swept over a third of the park. The key to controlling such a crisis is knowing where the fire is and where it's spreading. The most important tool for the Forest Service is an infrared camera system capable of seeing through smoke to pick out hot spots and fire fronts from the air. By analyzing infrared strip photography, interpreters plot these areas on a map for firefighters to use. Hot areas appear dark and cold areas white. This system, designed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has been a standard firefighting resource for many years. In the near future, JPL will design a new system with the Forest Service that locates fires, transmits the information to a portable ground station and automatically plots them on a map all within minutes. Studies made at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California have also resulted in major breakthroughs in forest fire remote sensing. Learning of these advances, the National Park and Forest Service turned to NASA for help during the Yellowstone Emergency. Ames agreed to fly two of its aerial observatories over the park. Both give a big picture view of conditions in a short amount of time. Firefighting strategists aboard NASA's C-130 at low altitudes made on the spot evaluations. NASA's other observatory, the ER-2, flies in near space. It was able to accomplish infrared remote sensing of the park's 4,000 square miles in about two hours, simultaneously transmitting all this data to scientists on the ground in West Yellowstone. Within hours, maps were generated for firefighters to use. Although these systems were only flown a few times over Yellowstone, the technology proved it could help. NASA aims data analyst Jeff Myers. I think our first flight on September 2nd, we found six or seven large fires in remote areas that they were not aware of. The remote sensing capabilities of the ER-2 were also used the day old faithful lodge faced blazing walls of fire 200 feet high. This is the visible red, green and blue channels put together which gives us natural color as the human eye would see it. It's not possible to see flames or fire fronts on this from this altitude and with the heavy smoke on the ground. So it is necessary to go to the infrared to see what's actively burning. The fire front comes immediately apparent. The yellow and orange areas are what is already burned. The purplish appearing area is dense lodge bull pine is yet to burn. You can see how the fire has been carried by the wind direction through these two corridors on either side of the old faithful community. Finding new ways to monitor fires and study their influence on global climate is a NASA goal and saving protected lands of vital byproduct. NASA's earth resources aircraft and advanced remote sensing technology helping find solutions to one of nature's age old problems.