Wildfire survivors say public should be more accessible to satellite information » Yale's climate connection

Transcript:

In January, wildfires destroyed Brianna Pagán's California home. It was a chaotic and terrifying time.

Prior to the evacuation, Pagán was using an app to monitor the spread of the fire. However, there was a long delay between the updates because its strong winds could not fly the plane that was surveillance shooting.

So she had to rely on friends and neighbors to make decisions and plan the safest evacuation route.

Pagán: “Call the neighbors and see where they are going, or… where the fire is relative to them.”

After evacuation, she had to wait and worry, not knowing that her house had burned down.

But she said more latest information should be obtained during the crisis. She is an expert in satellite technology and works in satellite data centers.

She said private companies and military have satellites in orbit that collect high-resolution images of the Earth.

As a result, she urged her industry to use its technology to capture useful data during fires and other disasters and to create methods that make it easy for the public to use.

Pagán: “That’s what I think needs a lot of people’s power to think about how to actually, if the data is available, bring it to… people who are experiencing natural disasters.”

Report Credit: Sarah Kennedy/Chavobart Digital Media