The management of wildfires is crucial, as wildfires today represent an increasingly pressing threat to our ecosystems, public safety, and the economy, particularly due to climate change, which increases both their frequency and intensity.
Each year, vast areas of forest and non-forest land are destroyed. For example, in 2023, nearly 1,073 km² were devastated in Italy alone, marking a 36% increase compared to the previous year. The Calabria region was among the most affected, with 177.68 km² burned, while in Sicily 1,010 km² went up in flames.
Current challenges in wildfire management
Despite the growing use of advanced technologies such as satellite and drone-based remote sensing, predictive models, and artificial intelligence, wildfire management still faces several limitations:
- Lack of a comprehensive overview: The use of isolated tools without effective data integration from various sources (satellites, drones, sensors, cameras, weather models) makes it difficult to obtain a complete and real-time picture of the situation.
- Data incompatibility and interpretation difficulties: Data formats, resolutions, and time scales vary, making comparisons and interpretation complex and resulting in fragmented and unreliable information.
- Information overload and analytical challenges: The massive volume of raw data can overwhelm human operators, making it hard to identify meaningful patterns and extract actionable insights.
- Lack of accurate forecasting: The inability to effectively integrate weather and environmental data hampers fire risk prediction and its potential evolution.
- Delayed response: The absence of an integrated and automated system can lead to critical delays in intervention.
- Lower efficiency and higher costs: A non-integrated approach requires more human resources and results in higher operational costs.
PRIMA: the integrated platform for a safer future
To address these challenges, PRIMA (real-time platform for wildfire ingestion, monitoring, and analysis) was developed—an innovative project funded under the Tech4You Program (PNRR). PRIMA aims to build an integrated platform for real-time wildfire monitoring and analysis, providing comprehensive and timely decision support to enable optimal wildfire management.
The system is built on three interconnected software modules:
- Forecast and Propagation Module: This module provides advanced real-time simulation of fire spread, integrating live hydro-meteorological data and predictive models. It relies on a sophisticated 2D reaction-diffusion mathematical model, accounting for factors such as air density, specific heat, temperature, wind speed, topography, turbulent diffusivity, and solid fuel combustion. Simulations incorporate topographic variability, which influences wind behavior and thus fire propagation.
- Satellite Monitoring Module: Enables early detection of thermal anomalies via satellite data (e.g., Meteosat), with immediate alerts and continuous fire evolution monitoring. Satellite data offer a broad, continuous view of the territory, identifying active hotspots and estimating burned area size.
Post-Fire Analysis and Monitoring Module: Focuses on the rapid processing of multispectral images (satellite, drones, LiDAR) to assess fire severity, monitor natural regeneration, and analyze the structure of affected areas.
How PRIMA transforms wildfire management
PRIMA is implemented as a vertical application of PlugAIn, Revelis’ IoT Intelligence platform, originally developed for manufacturing, smart cities, and multi-utility sectors. PlugAIn is based on a data-driven and event-driven architecture, integrating data from various sources, such as:
- Satellites: Multispectral and thermal images for vegetation analysis and detection of temperature anomalies.
- Drones (UAS): Provide close-range, flexible perspectives. They can capture RGB images for photogrammetry (creating point clouds, 3D models, orthomosaics, DTM), thermal images to detect hotspots even through smoke, LiDAR data to map terrain and vegetation, and wind sensors for fire spread prediction.
- Ground Sensors: Networks monitoring temperature, humidity, smoke, and particulate matter enable early fire detection.
- Cameras: Fixed or mobile, equipped with AI algorithms to automatically detect smoke or flames and generate real-time alerts.
- Weather Data: Includes temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation, and lightning—crucial for predictive modeling.
- Corine Land Cover (CLC): European land use and land cover data, useful for identifying risk areas and planning prevention strategies.
PlugAIn can gather information from any IoT sensor network. Platform administrators can easily manage the list of sensors being monitored. The system stores data in a big data lake, enabling insight generation and analytics via web dashboards for real-time monitoring. The platform offers a range of algorithms to support both descriptive and predictive analyses, with models made interpretable for decision-makers through AI explanation techniques.
To manage and analyze this heterogeneous data, PRIMA uses cutting-edge technologies integrated in PlugAIn, such as Apache Kafka for real-time data ingestion and Elasticsearch for fast data storage and querying. Specialized gateways (Polling and Subscription) enable integration of any data source, converting it into a unified format.
Benefits and impact of the PRIMA project
PRIMA stands out for its numerous benefits and expected impacts:
- Accuracy: The integration of multiple information sources ensures comprehensive analysis and highly accurate results.
- Real-time Monitoring: The combination of satellite, drone, and ground sensor data allows for continuous fire monitoring.
- Forecasting: Thanks to AI algorithms, it is possible to predict wildfire occurrences up to 9 days in advance.
- Damage Assessment: Before-and-after image analysis provides a valuable tool for assessing damage and quantifying burned areas.
- Support for Authorities: Notifications and alerts enable rapid and effective response planning, optimizing resource allocation.
- Cost Reduction: The platform avoids the need for expensive equipment unless strictly necessary.
A user-centered design for effective decisions
Recognizing that wildfire management is a high-pressure activity, PRIMA has adopted a Human-Centered Design approach based on UX and HCI principles to create intuitive and high-quality interfaces. The goal is to prevent cognitive overload, support constant information exchange, and keep operators in control at all times.
The primary users of the platform are identified as:
- Unified Operational Room (SOUP) operators
- Field team leaders (Capi Squadra)
For each, specific interfaces were designed:
- SOUP Interface: A desktop application for control room use. It allows for fire coordinate input, map visualization with road and land registry layers, and fire propagation simulation based on meteorological and topographical data.
- Field Team Leader Interface: A tablet app for on-site use. It receives simulations from the SOUP, displays essential information, and supports strategic planning of firefighting operations, incorporating terrain topography.
The interface design follows usability principles such as system status visibility, consistency and standards (e.g., Google Maps inspiration and use of standardized SI.TA.C symbols from the Italian Fire Department), error prevention, and flexibility. Prototypes are being validated through qualitative and quantitative testing with real users.
Conclusion
PRIMA will have a significant scientific, economic, social, and environmental impact. It will advance wildfire modeling and satellite data processing knowledge, while creating an innovative platform ready for national and international deployment. On a social and environmental level, it will reduce wildfire damage, improve intervention safety, and raise public awareness on risks and best practices.
PRIMA is a concrete example of how integrating advanced technologies, Big Data analytics, and Artificial Intelligence can help tackle one of the most complex environmental challenges of our time—providing real tools for more effective land management and a faster, more efficient response to critical events.
Author: Luigi Granata
