NASA FIRMS website screenshot

NASA FIRMS

NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) REST API providing near-real-time satellite fire detections globally from MODIS (Terra/Aqua), VIIRS (S-NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21), and LANDSAT instruments. Data is available within 3 hours of satellite observation worldwide, with Ultra Real-Time detections available within 60 seconds for the US and Canada. Supports area-based bounding box queries, KML fire footprints by region, data availability checks, and missing data identification. Free MAP_KEY registration required.

NASA FIRMS publishes 4 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Area Fire Detections API, Data Availability API, KML Fire Footprints API, and 1 more. Tagged areas include NASA, Fire Detection, Satellite, MODIS, and VIIRS.

The NASA FIRMS catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 1 Spectral governance ruleset.

NASA FIRMS’s developer surface includes documentation, getting-started guide, authentication, pricing, engineering blog, and 11 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub
50.8/100 developing ▼ -5.0 Agent 37/100 agent ready Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
AccessFree
4 APIs
NASAFire DetectionSatelliteMODISVIIRSRemote SensingOpen DataEnvironmentalGeospatialScience

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
Composite quality — 50.8/100 · developing
Contract Quality 17.3 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 6.5 / 20
Commercial Clarity 10.0 / 20
Operational Transparency 3.4 / 13
Governance 8.3 / 12
Discoverability 7.4 / 10
Agent readiness — 37/100 · agent ready
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 7 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 0 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
A2A Agent Card 0 / 8
Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/nasa-firms: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 4

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

NASA FIRMS Area Fire Detections API

Active fire hotspot detections within a bounding box area

NASA FIRMS Data Availability API

Check which dates have Standard Processing or Near Real-Time data

NASA FIRMS KML Fire Footprints API

KMZ files containing color-coded fire footprint polygons by region

NASA FIRMS Missing Data API

Identify dates with absent satellite fire detection data

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Nasa Firms Plans Pricing

2 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Nasa Firms Rate Limits

1 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Nasa Firms Finops

FINOPS

Semantic Vocabularies 1

JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.

Nasa Firms Context

0 classes · 3 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 1

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

NASA FIRMS API Rules

5 rules · 4 warnings 1 info

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 2

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

Data Availability Record

4 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Fire Detection Record

13 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Examples 3

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Area Fire Detections Request

5 fields

EXAMPLE

Data Availability Request

5 fields

EXAMPLE

Kml Fire Footprints Request

5 fields

EXAMPLE

Security Posture 1

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Nasa Firms Domain Security

TLSv1.2 · HSTS · DNSSEC · DMARC

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Nasa Firms Agentic Access

6 operations

6 operations · 0 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Get Started 1

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

GettingStarted
GettingStarted

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation
Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess
AgenticAccess

Design & Contract 2

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Vocabulary
Vocabulary
 JSONLDContext
JSONLDContext

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrg
GitHubOrg

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity
DomainSecurity
 Authentication
Authentication

Operate 2

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Contact
Contact
 RateLimits
RateLimits

Commercial 4

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

TermsOfService
TermsOfService
 Pricing
Pricing
 Plans
Plans
 FinOps
FinOps

Company 2

The organization behind the API

Website
Website
 Blog
Blog

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: nasa-firms
name: NASA FIRMS
description: 'NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) REST API providing near-real-time satellite fire
  detections globally from MODIS (Terra/Aqua), VIIRS (S-NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21), and LANDSAT instruments. Data is available
  within 3 hours of satellite observation worldwide, with Ultra Real-Time detections available within 60 seconds for the US
  and Canada. Supports area-based bounding box queries, KML fire footprints by region, data availability checks, and missing
  data identification. Free MAP_KEY registration required.

  '
accessModel:
  pricing: free
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Free
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/nasa-firms.png
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/nasa-firms/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2026-06-13'
modified: '2026-06-13'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
type: Index
tags:
- NASA
- Fire Detection
- Satellite
- MODIS
- VIIRS
- Remote Sensing
- Open Data
- Environmental
- Geospatial
- Science
apis:
- aid: nasa-firms:nasa-firms-area-fire-detections-api
  name: NASA FIRMS Area Fire Detections API
  description: Active fire hotspot detections within a bounding box area
  humanURL: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/area/
  baseURL: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov
  tags:
  - Area Fire Detections
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/nasa-firms-area-fire-detections-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/area/
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/fire-detection.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/area-fire-detections-request.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/area-fire-detections-response.csv
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/kml_fire_footprints/
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/kml-fire-footprints-request.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/data_availability/
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/data-availability.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/data-availability-request.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/missing_data/
- aid: nasa-firms:nasa-firms-data-availability-api
  name: NASA FIRMS Data Availability API
  description: Check which dates have Standard Processing or Near Real-Time data
  humanURL: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/area/
  baseURL: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov
  tags:
  - Data Availability
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/nasa-firms-data-availability-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/area/
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/fire-detection.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/area-fire-detections-request.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/area-fire-detections-response.csv
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/kml_fire_footprints/
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/kml-fire-footprints-request.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/data_availability/
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/data-availability.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/data-availability-request.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/missing_data/
- aid: nasa-firms:nasa-firms-kml-fire-footprints-api
  name: NASA FIRMS KML Fire Footprints API
  description: KMZ files containing color-coded fire footprint polygons by region
  humanURL: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/area/
  baseURL: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov
  tags:
  - KML Fire Footprints
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/nasa-firms-kml-fire-footprints-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/area/
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/fire-detection.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/area-fire-detections-request.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/area-fire-detections-response.csv
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/kml_fire_footprints/
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/kml-fire-footprints-request.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/data_availability/
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/data-availability.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/data-availability-request.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/missing_data/
- aid: nasa-firms:nasa-firms-missing-data-api
  name: NASA FIRMS Missing Data API
  description: Identify dates with absent satellite fire detection data
  humanURL: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/area/
  baseURL: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov
  tags:
  - Missing Data
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/nasa-firms-missing-data-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/area/
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/fire-detection.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/area-fire-detections-request.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/area-fire-detections-response.csv
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/kml_fire_footprints/
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/kml-fire-footprints-request.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/data_availability/
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/data-availability.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/data-availability-request.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/missing_data/
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/nasa-firms-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/nasa-firms-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/area/
- type: Authentication
  url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/
- type: GitHubOrg
  url: https://github.com/nasa
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/engage/open-data-services-and-software/data-and-information-policy
- type: Pricing
  url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/
- type: Blog
  url: https://earthdata.nasa.gov/
- type: Contact
  url: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/contact/
- type: Plans
  url: plans/nasa-firms-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/nasa-firms-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/nasa-firms-finops.yml
- type: Vocabulary
  url: vocabulary/nasa-firms-vocabulary.yml
- type: JSONLDContext
  url: json-ld/nasa-firms-context.jsonld
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com