ForestWatch: guides, playbooks and tools.

By the Autowhat AI team · Updated 7 Oct 2026

• Blog posts

• Forest Fires Should Not Be Answered in Arrival OrderFire-season desks usually answer alerts in the order the inbox, chat group or phone delivers them. We argue the queue should be ranked on fire weather, wind, fuel, people and wildlife in the path, and incident age, with the reasons visible so officers can trust and challenge the rank.
• Fire Season Reviews Should Run on Evidence, Not MemoryMany forest divisions rebuild the fire season review from chat groups, emails, registers and memory. We argue the review should run on evidence captured during the season: timed incidents, patrol tracks and photos, a running season report and replays of the worst fires.

• Guides

• Forest Fire Control Room: What It Is and NeedsA forest fire control room brings satellite hotspots, watch-tower reports, fire-weather stations, protected-area maps, ranger photos and crew positions onto one screen, ranks fires by spread risk, dispatches the nearest crew and records every response for the season review.
• Satellite Forest Fire Hotspot Alerts: Using Them WellSatellite forest fire hotspots are heat detections that need ground confirmation. Use them well by mapping every hotspot with protected areas, attaching fire weather, wind and fuel, ranking by spread risk and what is in the path, confirming through rangers or towers, and recording every outcome.
• Forest Fire Season Preparedness ChecklistForest fire season preparedness: map divisions, ranges, protected areas, fuel, settlements and corridors; update contacts and assign crews, tankers and blowers; set one tested ranger reporting channel; write ranking, acknowledgement and escalation rules; then brief daily and keep the season report current.

• Playbooks

• Playbook: Ranger Fire Reports That Don’t Get LostStop ranger fire reports getting lost: one WhatsApp intake instead of chat groups, the photo’s GPS to place the incident, a short confirmation question, an owner and clock for every report, the nearest crew dispatched with the ETA and safety guidance sent back, and closure with evidence.

• Comparisons

• Forest Fire Response: Chat Groups vs Control RoomForest fire response in chat groups is fast to start but reports scroll away, have no owner and are never ranked. A control room keeps WhatsApp as the intake but turns each report into a located incident, ranks fires by spread risk, tracks dispatch and keeps a record for review.

The product behind these guides. ForestWatch — Every hotspot, ranked by risk. Book a 30-minute working session.

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