Fire management

Management of fires in progress is made by authorized users of the system, through the “Fire Manager”. In particular, users can:

• Specify the outbreak of a new fire, by specifying its front and characteristics.
  

  Display of the current front of the fire and of its estimated progress, in combination with the location of the firefighting vehicles, in real time

• Monitor the prediction for its progress, as it is calculated by the system, based on current meteorological data. The prediction progress is based on the current front of the fire, and its calculation uses all the parameters of the BEHAVE plus model, some of which are invariant in time (e.g., type of vegetation, relief map of the terrain) while others change with time (e.g., wind intensity and direction, humidity, etc.). Each time a new prediction is requested, the current values of the parameters that change with time are used, as they are received at the time of the prediction from the various measurement locations. The update of the front of the fire is made using the spatial information processing tools of Cruiser itself.
• Store the entire course of the progress of the firefighting effort for later recall, display, and study.

Using the Fire Manager, the coordinator assigns vehicles to fires, and personnel to vehicles. Each time a new fire breaks out, the coordinator registers it in the system and assigns vehicles to it. The vehicles are automatically informed about the new fire and the position that they must take along its front. While a vehicle is moving towards the fire, the coordinator can change its destination, as the firefighting plan is formed and more data about the fire become available.

Charting o risk zones

Apart from the prediction of the spreading of a fire, the system can estimate the risk of new fires breaking out anywhere in the region of concern. Based on the measurements that are received mainly from the stationary weather stations, as well as from those on the vehicles, the system divides an area into risk zones, regarding the outbreak of a new fire. This estimate is based on the prevailing weather conditions. The risk prediction allows the coordinating center to distribute the vehicles throughout the area of concern to enable dealing with new fire centers as fast as possible. Predictions can be obtained even when there are no forest fires under way.