Catching Arsonists

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Catching Arsonists It always amazes me that Arsonists who light House Fires and Bush Fires in Australia and other countries think they can get away without being caught. Since the nineteen eighties we have been told the cameras on spy satellites in space can look over your shoulder and read your newspaper. Various weather satellites are capable of following heat pattens on land and sea. One would think that if this is correct they could simply combine the two technologies and aim a camera down from space. Connect the output to a video recorder and wait for the next hot spot to trigger the camera. Then by backing up the video recording they could track anyone in the vicinity of the fire centre and by following them, target the culprit. I realise this appears to be a bit like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted but it might help locate the “person responsible” for starting fire and the mere possibility of being apprehended could be enough to deter them from lighting the fire in the first place. To cover the terrane they would need a satellite with a single camera capable of automatically taking a snap shot of the area below whenever a new hot spot develops. Software utilising a hexagonal cell like display would permit the tracking and apprehension of a fire bug. Fire Emergency crews could be automatically dispatched to the GPS coordinates immediately without having to wait for someone to ‘phone in the emergency, resulting in reduced delays in responding to the fire. insurance Companies would almost certainly be interested in apportioning blame for fires that are started in order to defraud them. Governments, Emergency Services and insurance Companies world wide, would be a source of money to pay for the infrastructure of such a satellite system which would also be an additional deterrent to terrorists.