Forest fires have become a major threat around the world, causing many negative impacts on human habitats and forest ecosystems.
Climatic changes and the greenhouse effect are some of the consequences of such destruction. 2022 made all Europe aware, with record-breaking temperatures, and unprecedented wildfires across the whole continent. Data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) indicates an increase of more than 300% of hectares of forest have burned in wildfires in Spain, 900% in Romania, 500% in France, and 200% in the UK.
Wildfires often occur in environmentally sensitive regions such as national parks, wilderness areas, or along the growing, environmentally and economically sensitive urban-wildland interface. Industrial IoT (IIoT) use cases can improve wildfire monitoring and search and rescue operations performance, with the objective of minimizing the destruction caused by forest fires.
Search and rescue operations in wildfires can be a dangerous and difficult task. Rescuers must face the challenge of limited visibility, heat and smoke inhalation, dangerous terrain, time constraints, and communication difficulties while attempting to locate survivors.
- Limited Visibility: Smoke and ash from the fire can reduce visibility for rescuers and complicate navigation in unfamiliar terrain.
- Heat and Smoke Inhalation: Heat and smoke inhalation can be dangerous for rescuers searching for survivors in a wildfire.
- Dangerous Terrain: Wildfires can cause the terrain to become hazardous, with unstable ground, rocks, and debris that can pose a risk to rescuers.
- Time Constraints: The search and rescue efforts need to be completed as quickly as possible to ensure the safety of survivors and rescuers alike.
- Communication Difficulties: Communication between rescuers and survivors can be difficult in a wildfire due to limited or no access to cell service.
Fortunately, nowadays several wireless techniques are implemented to help detect fires such as watchtowers, satellite image processing methods, optical sensors, or digital camera-based methods. Also, rescuers are equipped with the necessary safety gear and equipment during search and rescue operations.
Detection of multi target (victims) as fast as possible in low visibility environment together with the communication difficulties can be supported by technology that enables ranging information accurately.
Wireless technologies like GPS modules or cellular communications can be implemented in devices that are carried by the rescuers to detect targets from far away in an area with poor visibility and access directly to the target in the shortest amount of time. This contributes to increasing the success rate of fire operations.
Search and rescue operations in wildfires can be a dangerous and difficult task, but with the proper training, safety measures, and equipment, it is possible to save lives.
Metirionic helps the safety sector via enabling technology that allows accurate location of critical targets. MARS technology ensures locating victims and firefighters operation team at the fastest time. MARS is endorsed by a pool of patents that allow superior wireless measurements and target Search and Rescue applications in the Safety business.
- Rescue people faster
- Cover the maximum range
- Find several targets at the same time
MARS technology ensures the most reliable wireless measurement in point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and radar applications and reduces the emergency response time to absolute minimum and lower than existing systems.
Get in touch with our experts to know more HERE.
For more information:
- Link to MARS campaign
- Applications webpage