The national landuse GIS database is used to identify forest fires and determine the positions of fires during the crossing of NOAA satellites, but its cost is high and the database cannot be updated yearly. MODIS is very different from NOAA, has the ability to identify 17 types of land surface with its VISNIRSWIR multichannel spectral bands (wavelength 400 to 2500 nm). By analyzing the MODIS land cover (LC) products, a new forestfire pixel identification method based on MODIS land IGBP types is devised, and its reliability is discussed. The total confidence of the forest fire identification based on MODIS LC is about 96.5%. A nearrealtime forest fire detection and monitoring system is constructed with an operational MODIS direct broadcast station.