3D Technology that Reveals Intentional Forest Fires
Digital forensic expertise has found a key ally in three-dimensional modeling to investigate environmental crimes. Today, reconstructing how a fire spreads in a forest depends on creating an exact digital replica of the scenario, allowing simulations to be run that reveal the truth behind the flames. 🔥
Building the Virtual Fire Scenario
The first step is to capture the reality of the terrain. Aerial sensors, such as LiDAR scanners and cameras for photogrammetry, record the topography and biomass distribution. This data is processed in specialized software to generate a georeferenced 3D mesh. On this virtual model, complex algorithms are applied that calculate how the fire advances, taking into account critical variables such as wind speed, air humidity, and the type of vegetation that serves as fuel.
Key phases of the technical process:- Acquire data: Drones or planes equipped with LiDAR and high-resolution cameras are used to map the burned area.
- Process and model: Raw data is converted into a dense point cloud and then into a textured 3D mesh that represents the terrain and residual vegetation.
- Simulate and calibrate: Propagation algorithms (such as cellular automata) are run on the model, adjusting them with historical meteorological data from the day of the incident.
The 3D model acts as a virtual testing laboratory where natural causes of a fire can be systematically ruled out.
From Pixels to Evidence: Determining Intentionality
The power of this methodology lies in comparison. A fire of natural origin, such as one caused by lightning, generally spreads from a single ignition point. The simulation reproduces this pattern. However, when the observed damage on the terrain can only be explained by several simultaneous and distant ignition foci, the hypothesis of intentionality gains strength. Investigators analyze visualizations of the flame fronts over time, looking for anomalous convergence points that indicate those multiple origins.
How the simulation evidences the intentional act:- Damage pattern: The real burn map is compared with the simulation results starting from a single focus.
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