“Hidden Knowledge”: How Multispectral Imagery Reveals What Wildfires Leave Behind

After a wildfire, multispectral imagery reveals what’s typically invisible to the human eye. It shows which structures were damaged, how much vegetation was consumed, and exactly where the fire traveled: the foundation of any damage assessment.

In the video above, Vexcel Marketing Director Kris Wagner explains how multispectral imagery works and why it matters for post-disaster response. He walks through post-disaster imagery from Vexcel’s August 2026 Spokane captures, showing what standard imagery misses and what multispectral makes undeniable.

The striking before-and-after multispectral imagery illustrates the sporadic nature of how fire burns, devastating one property while leaving its neighbor largely untouched.

When Vexcel flies its Gray Sky collection missions, the cameras capture near-infrared light — highly revealing of vegetation health and fire damage. The result, as Wagner puts it, is “a hidden knowledge of what happened after a wildfire.”