A combination of bibliometric and science mapping methods was carried out to explore characteristics of scientific production on the application of orbital remote sensing in fire ecology. The performance analyzes made it possible to identify the main actors responsible for the knowledge (authors, institutions and countries) and the journals selected for dissemination. Through co-occurrence and co-authorship networks we analyze the temporal evolution of knowledge, analyzing the emergence of themes and research methods, in addition to the pattern of interaction between the main actors involved. The research universe consisted of articles published in indexed journals at Scopus. Of the 2602 initial articles identified, 1977 articles were selected and a subsample of 1832 was selected for the period 2000-2019. As a result, we found that the production of articles started in 1973 and increased over time, with great expansion from 2000s, when different themes, tools and techniques were identified. Corroborating these results, we observed keywords networks more complex and richer in themes, tools and techniques in the period 2000-2019. On the topics surveyed, in the most recent period, there was a greater frequency of subjects such as risk, regime, history and severity. These topics are generally investigated based on data on active fire and global burnt area, which is why the articles most cited in the literature mostly dealt with techniques for obtaining these estimates. Regarding those responsible for research, we demonstrate that although scientific knowledge is concentrated in a few geographical centers and institutions, there are high scientific partnerships and cooperation.