Great interest for the wildfire monitoring and early warning system
WATCH: Video of the wildfire monitoring and early warning system
Fires are one of the most important causes of environmental alteration and deterioration of the territory; they have serious consequences for the natural balance and require long periods of time for the recovery of the forest and environmental ecosystem. Fires also increase the phenomena of slope instability, causing the sliding and removal of the superficial soil layer in the event of intense rains. For this reason, CAE suggests the use of a wildfire monitoring and early warning system. This system aims at supporting the decision-making process used by the various bodies operating in the field of Civil Defense. In particular, it is instrumental to protect the population and can guarantee a timely and effective intervention by the authorities responsible for extinguishing the fires.
The infrastructure is based on the MHAS (Multi-Hazard System) platform, a complete and advanced multi-hazard tool. This system is able to:
- Continuously monitor the area by using high-zoom cameras that can also be controlled remotely;
- Early-identify the ignition of a fire hotspot, by using infrared thermal imaging cameras;
- Integrate forecast models that allow us to display the fire risk index and any possible propagation of the fire front on geo-referenced maps. Its functionality can also be improved by integrating meteorological data.
The system as a whole is able to process the data received and, at their very first occurrence, to accurately and promptly locate all the fire outbreaks that are revealed in optical view.
The wildfire monitoring and early warning systems are composed of automatic lookout stations with integrated sensors for measuring the main meteorological parameters, as well as a combination of thermal imaging cameras, video cameras and software tools to be used in a control and supervision centre.
The operating room stations allow the operator to be aware of dangerous situations and detect the presence of a fire in the area. The system, which is based on Fi.De.Sys 2 web-based software, analyses the images of the lookout stations, detects fire events and alerts the users. Thanks to advanced image processing techniques, the system can detect false alarms induced by environmental disturbances and by possible sources originating from prefigured human settlements.
The wildfire monitoring and early warning system collects and provides useful information to decide on the methods of intervention, combining the management actions taken during emergency situations that provide for the deployment of vehicles and personnel in the territory or, in case of high risk, implementing preventive interventions aimed at reducing the risk itself.