28 Jul 2026
Fireside Chat 17 | MEJOR Technologies & CHRIS – For Real-Time Wildfire Monitoring with Drones
🔥 FIRESIDE CHAT 17
Using Drone Data to Improve Wildfire Response
During a wildfire or other fast-moving emergency, responders need more than a live drone feed. They need an accurate, shared picture of what is happening, where the incident is moving and how conditions are changing.
In this ARPAS-UK Fireside Chat, Anne-Lise Scaillierez speaks with Melvin Sieben, Co-Founder and CEO of MEJOR Technologies (https://www.mejortechnologies.com/), about CHRIS – the Climate Hazard Real-time Imaging System. (https://www.mejortechnologies.com/chriscloud)
Developed with firefighters in the Netherlands, CHRIS connects directly with emergency-service drones and turns aerial imagery into georeferenced 2D maps. These can show the position and progression of a wildfire, emerging hotspots, people, vehicles and available access routes.
From live imagery to an operational map
Drone teams often rely on live video while manually transferring information into separate mapping or command systems. In a rapidly changing incident, that process can take time and important details may be missed.
CHRIS is designed to automate this work. The drone operator continues flying as normal while the system creates and updates the map, without requiring additional steps. Melvin describes this as a “zero-button” approach, intended to avoid adding complexity for operators working under pressure.
During the demonstration, CHRIS identifies fire boundaries, measures the area affected and shows the extent and direction of spread between successive images. It can also detect heat sources obscured by smoke and stitch multiple images together to create a wider operational overview.
Built around existing emergency-service systems
A central part of the discussion is the importance of fitting new technology into established operational procedures.
CHRIS can be integrated through an API into existing command-and-control, incident-management and GIS platforms, allowing the data to appear as an additional layer within systems already used by emergency services.
According to Melvin, operational feedback has focused on time savings, improved confidence in decision-making and a clearer understanding of where personnel and resources should be deployed.
The system can also operate in areas with limited connectivity. An off-grid option allows mapping to continue locally, with the data synchronising once an internet connection becomes available again.
Future applications
MEJOR is now developing CHRIS for wider emergency-response use, including flood mapping and search and rescue. Longer-term plans include connecting real-time mapping with wildfire-spread simulations to help teams assess where a fire may move over the following hours.
You can watch the Fireside Chat video here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAz3Ufgzhd4)
Get in touch with the team at MEJOR Technologies at contact@mejortechnologies.com (mailto:contact@mejortechnologies.com)
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