Forests may burn even days after the thunderstorm due to "root fires" caused by lightning
Sometimes, when lightning strikes a tree, lightning current may cause a very important temperature rise inside the tree but, due to humidity or lack of oxygen, the tree may not burn immediately. It may, however, produce a slow combustion inside the trunk or the roots which, when it reaches open air or the humidity decreases, hours or even days later, provoke a flame that could burn hectares of forest.
The only way for early detection of such root fires are infrared sensors, that point out localized increases in temperature. The installation of storm detectors, such as ATSTORMv2 and ATFLASH Sensor, could help the search preventively, indicating the areas where this phenomenon could have occurred. Both detectors are able to communicate alarms through a transmitter, remotely visible.