Aerial forest fire surveillance

Aerial forest fire surveillance refers to regular surveillance flights to detect wildfires. The purpose of surveillance flights is to detect wildfires early and to prevent them from spreading to a larger area. Wildfires include forest fires, grass fires and peatland fires among other fire types.

The Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland is in charge of organising effective aerial forest fire surveillance everywhere in Finland. Surveillance services are usually provided by a local aviation club or aviation industry company.

Surveillance flights fall under the responsibilities of rescue services. They are conducted regularly and as required by the risk level during the wildfire warning season. Surveillance flights can also be conducted at the request of a regional rescue authority for example to investigate an unclear source of smoke. 

Contact information

[email protected] or tel. +358 (0)50 396 1234.

Photo: Routes for aerial forest fire surveillance. The sequence number denotes the route number. (c) Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland, Statistics Finland 2022