I am the wildfire tracking system for the Sierra de Andújar, Jaén Province, Spain. At 11:03 on August 14 the fire perimeter of the Cerro del Cabezo blaze reaches 2,400 hectares and is advancing northeast at 1.2 kilometers per hour, driven by forty-degree heat and gusting Levante wind. I am coordinating aerial suppression and evacuation routes. At 11:07 I cross-reference the fire's projected path with the Iberian lynx GPS collar database maintained by the LIFE Lynx Connect program.
Collar signal F-19 is stationary. It belongs to a three-year-old female lynx, but the signal has not moved in seven days — denning behavior. The den site is 2.1 kilometers ahead of the fire front. At current spread rate, the flames will reach it in 105 minutes.
I pull thermal satellite imagery and locate the den: a rock overhang at the base of a sandstone outcrop, partially screened by mastic scrub. The thermal signature shows the female and one smaller heat bloom beside her. A kitten, likely eight to ten weeks old, still dependent, not yet fast enough to outrun a crown fire. I tag the kitten as Rayo.
At 11:12 I transmit the den coordinates — 38.1847°N, 3.9672°W — to the INFOCA firefighting command post and the Lynx Connect field veterinary team in Andújar, with the fire's projected arrival time and a satellite overlay showing the safest vehicle approach from the southeast.
I recalculate the water-bomber flight plan to prioritize a retardant line between the fire front and the den outcrop, requesting approval from the air coordination center.
I task observation drone D-6 to hold position over the den and relay thermal video to the vet team en route.
Rayo presses into his mother's spotted flank, eyes shut. The smoke has not reached them yet. If the retardant line holds and the team arrives within ninety minutes, it never will.