A Brillouin system for monitoring both temperature and strain includes either a single or double-ended fiber with multiple fiber Bragg gratings (FBG's) at different wavelengths and a pumped seed laser system tunable over a range substantially larger than a Brillouin shift. The FBG's are distributed along the length of the deployed fiber and serve as wavelength selectable reflectors that enable maintaining system operation even in the case of a fiber break.