Space becomes part of the fight against forest fires

This is a project of the European Space Agency (ESA), called RISK EOS and is part of the program promoted jointly by ESA and the European Commission GMES (Global Monitoring of Environment and Security) that will give Europe a space infrastructure observation, particularly devoted to the management of forest fires and for other types of natural disasters such as floods.

With the application of this technology, the Regional Operations Center (COR), a body of the Plan INFOCID elaborate fires and distribute the resources needed to extinguish them, have gathered information from the satellite to track the fire.

At that meeting, which examines the use of this tool, involving representatives of INFOCID Plan, the European Space Agency, and the consortium in charge of project management-company-INSA. Similarly, there are representatives of European countries that are also involved in the project, such as Italy, Belgium, Sweden, France and Germany.

The development of the project RISK EOS in its first phase ended in December 2004, the date until which was consolidated a portfolio of information services for the management of fires and floods. In fact, this first phase of the Plan INFOCID already have the information via satellite to obtain maps of the areas affected by fire. In its second phase, starting from November 2005, has expanded the coverage of the program with the exploitation of new services, such as the monitoring of fires by satellite.

With this initiative, the INFOCID incorporates new elements in the use of information technologies to perform their tasks. This year the program has incorporated a system to track vehicle fire, also via satellite, which allows its position as well as meteorological data on foot field. On the other hand, is being used in its first phase the system SIADEX, a technology developed by the University of Granada, which allows to optimize the allocation of human and technical resources in case of fire.

Plan on Forest Fires Government of Andalusia, INFOCID, incorporated into upcoming dates tech via satellite to conduct a comprehensive monitoring of forest fires. The headquarters of the Ministry of Environment has hosted a meeting of representatives from various European countries will also launch this initiative.