Live · free · open source
Algow Yangın
A free live map of wildfires in Turkey — where each fire came from, and where the wind may carry it next.
If you see a fire, call immediately: 112 emergency · 177 forest fire line. This map is not an official warning system.
What the map shows
Live detections
Fire detections from five satellites, refreshed every ten minutes; intensity read through colour and size.
Where it came from
The first sighting is marked and the path across satellite passes is drawn with arrows and timestamps.
Where it may go
From the leading edge, a cone shows where wind could carry the fire in one, three and six hours.
Fire weather
Wind, gusts, humidity, temperature, vapour pressure deficit and the Canadian Fire Weather Index.
Smoke
Surface fine particle (PM2.5) levels — the most relevant reading for people kilometres away.
Terrain
Elevation, slope and upslope direction; flames climb steep slopes regardless of wind.
Time scrubber
Rewind one, two or five days and play back how the fire grew.
Nearby alerts
Save your home, field or workplace and get notified when a fire appears near it.
Works offline
Built for weak rural connections: second launch loads without network, shows last data when cut off.
Data sources
All sources are public and free scientific services. None of them endorse this platform; data is provided as is.
- NASA FIRMS ↗ Active fire detections — VIIRS 375 m and MODIS 1 km, five satellites
- EUMETSAT LSA SAF ↗ Meteosat FRP product — 15-minute scans filling the blind window
- Open-Meteo ↗ Wind, gusts, humidity, temperature, VPD, air quality and elevation
- Copernicus EFFIS / GWIS ↗ Burnt area perimeters and fire danger forecast
- CARTO · OpenStreetMap ↗ Base map and place names
How accurate is it, where does it fail?
The honest answer here is the most important part of the platform. Satellites see heat, not flame: refinery flares, power plants, factories and stubble burning all appear as dots. A dot in the same place every day is a permanent heat source, and the platform flags it.
Errors run the other way too. Fires under cloud, beneath canopy, or extinguished between passes never appear. We tested this against news reports: a small overnight fire was entirely missed, while a large ongoing one was captured with over three hundred detections.
On direction we must be even clearer. We back-tested the wind-based cone against our own history and found it no better than chance at predicting observed spread, because crews cut the fire head, flames climb slopes independently of wind, and the wind turns between passes. So the cone is presented as "wind is currently carrying this way", not as prophecy; the observed track is more reliable.
In short: this is not an early warning system. Fires are first spotted by watchtowers, people on the ground and emergency calls. The value here is bringing together, on one screen, where a fire is, where it came from and where wind may take it.
Frequently asked
What is Algow Yangın? +
A free live map showing wildfires across Turkey using satellite data, with wind-based spread direction estimates. Built by Algow for public and environmental benefit: no ads, no data selling, open source.
Where does the data come from? +
Fire detections come from NASA FIRMS across five satellites (VIIRS on Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21; MODIS on Terra and Aqua), plus Meteosat via EUMETSAT LSA SAF. Weather and air quality come from Open-Meteo; burnt area perimeters from Copernicus EFFIS.
How current is the data? +
Polar-orbiting satellites pass over Turkey a few times a day, arriving with one to eight hours of delay, typically two to four. Meteosat scans every fifteen minutes and reaches us in about half an hour. The map refreshes itself every ten minutes.
Is every dot really a fire? +
No. Satellites detect heat, not flame. Refinery flares, power plants, steel and cement works, and post-harvest stubble burning all appear as dots. If a dot appears in the same spot every day, it is most likely a permanent heat source.
Can fires be missed? +
Yes. Fires under cloud cover, beneath tree canopy, or extinguished between satellite passes stay invisible. Fires smaller than fifty to a hundred square metres are usually undetectable. Absence of a dot does not prove absence of fire.
How reliable is the direction forecast? +
The cone shows where wind is currently carrying; it knows nothing of terrain slope, fuel type or firefighting. In our own retrospective test it did not predict observed spread better than chance, because crews cut the fire head and flames climb slopes regardless of wind. The observed track shown in white is more reliable.
Is this an official warning system? +
No. It is a situational awareness tool, not an evacuation decision tool. In Turkey call 112 for emergencies or 177 to report a forest fire.
Can I see my own location? +
Yes, and you can save places to be alerted when a fire appears nearby. Your location is processed only on your device; it is never sent to any server.
Does it work on weak connections? +
Yes, by design. The app caches map tiles and the latest data on your device, works offline with the last known data, and disables heavy layers on slow connections. It can be installed on your phone.