Wildfire monitoring Technology

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:

• prevent fires by calculating the risk indices of fire ignition;
• spot fires through continuous visual monitoring of the area and the use of high zoom cameras that can also be controlled remotely;
• early detect the ignition of a fire outbreak;
• manage fire extinguishing operations in an emergency situation, integrating forecasting models that allow to represent the possible spread of fire on the territory on geo-referenced maps.

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.

For further information: ARIF, Puglia Region






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