NASA FIRMS Fire Fetch

Core Goal

• Fetch NASA FIRMS active fire detections for one bounding box in one invocation.
• Support inclusive --start-date and --end-date even though FIRMS only accepts up to 5 days per request.
• Return machine-readable JSON with request metadata, chunk transport details, validation summary, and normalized fire records.
• Keep runtime observable with structured stderr logs and optional file logs.

Required Environment

• NASA_FIRMS_MAP_KEY is required for remote requests.
• Start from assets/config.example.env and keep the real key in assets/config.env.
• Load env values before running commands:

set -a
source assets/config.env
set +a

Workflow

1. Validate effective configuration. Probe the key when needed.

python3 scripts/nasa_firms_fire_fetch.py check-config \
  --probe-map-key \
  --pretty

2. Dry-run the request plan first.

python3 scripts/nasa_firms_fire_fetch.py fetch \
  --source VIIRS_NOAA20_NRT \
  --bbox 115.8,-8.9,116.3,-8.3 \
  --start-date 2026-03-01 \
  --end-date 2026-03-08 \
  --dry-run \
  --pretty

3. Run the fetch with validation and operational logs.

python3 scripts/nasa_firms_fire_fetch.py fetch \
  --source VIIRS_NOAA20_NRT \
  --bbox 115.8,-8.9,116.3,-8.3 \
  --start-date 2026-03-01 \
  --end-date 2026-03-08 \
  --check-availability \
  --output ./data/firms/nasa-firms-fire-fetch.json \
  --log-level INFO \
  --log-file ./logs/nasa-firms-fire-fetch.log \
  --pretty

Built-in Robustness

• Retry transient HTTP and network failures with exponential backoff.
• Respect Retry-After when present and fail fast when it exceeds the configured cap.
• Throttle request rate with a minimum request interval.
• Enforce safety caps before remote calls:
  • maximum inclusive day range per run
  • maximum per-chunk day range
  • maximum estimated transaction weight per run
• Validate transport:
  • HTTP status handling
  • content-type checks
  • UTF-8 strict decode
  • CSV and JSON parse checks
• Validate structure:
  • required fire columns
  • coordinate range and bbox inclusion
  • acquisition date/time parseability
  • returned dates remaining inside the requested window
  • consistent chunk headers

Scope Decision

• Keep one atomic fetch implementation for the FIRMS area/csv endpoint only.
• Do not embed geocoding, world-scale scans, country queries, alert thresholds, or fire classification logic.
• Use OpenClaw orchestration, not this script, for recurring jobs or multi-area fan-out.

References

• references/env.md
• references/nasa-firms-api-notes.md
• references/nasa-firms-limitations.md
• references/openclaw-chaining-templates.md

Script

• scripts/nasa_firms_fire_fetch.py

OpenClaw Invocation Compatibility

• Keep trigger metadata in name, description, and agents/openai.yaml.
• Invoke with $nasa-firms-fire-fetch.
• Keep calls atomic and parameterized by:
  • --source
  • --bbox
  • --start-date
  • --end-date
• Use OpenClaw orchestration, not this script, for repeated areas or repeated sources.

OpenClaw Prompt Templates

Use these templates directly in OpenClaw and only replace bracketed placeholders.

1. Recon (dry-run)

Use $nasa-firms-fire-fetch.
Run:
python3 scripts/nasa_firms_fire_fetch.py fetch \
  --source [FIRMS_SOURCE] \
  --bbox [WEST,SOUTH,EAST,NORTH] \
  --start-date [YYYY-MM-DD] \
  --end-date [YYYY-MM-DD] \
  --dry-run \
  --pretty
Return only the JSON result.

2. Fetch (fire verification window)

Use $nasa-firms-fire-fetch.
Run:
python3 scripts/nasa_firms_fire_fetch.py fetch \
  --source [FIRMS_SOURCE] \
  --bbox [WEST,SOUTH,EAST,NORTH] \
  --start-date [YYYY-MM-DD] \
  --end-date [YYYY-MM-DD] \
  --check-availability \
  --pretty
Return only the JSON result.

3. Validate (quality gate)

Use $nasa-firms-fire-fetch.
Run:
python3 scripts/nasa_firms_fire_fetch.py fetch \
  --source [FIRMS_SOURCE] \
  --bbox [WEST,SOUTH,EAST,NORTH] \
  --start-date [YYYY-MM-DD] \
  --end-date [YYYY-MM-DD] \
  --pretty
Check validation_summary.total_issue_count and validation_summary.ok.
Return JSON plus one-line pass/fail verdict.