Prevention is better than cure

Since forest fires are a common place in Spain during the hot summer months, a new system has been put in place to pin point fires and potential hazards.

In the emergency room of Protección Civil, Spain’s emergency coordination service point, indicators lights up on the map of Spain as satellites pick up hot spots. Technicians check it out to see if it is a false alarm. At the same time, a computer program combines dozens of variables to produce a simulation of how the fire is likely to advance, minute by minute, without action being taken.

The new satellite fire-detection system, which was being tested last year, is now fully functional together with the fire simulation program, which was started up this week.

The satellite Meteosat can spot any abnormal rise in temperature on the surface of the land using infrared technology. There are some false alarms, but when a point lights up on the map it usually means a fire.

The satellite sends a message every 15 minutes, with a margin of error of three kilometers. Technicians then enter the Meteosat location coordinates into the program, and within 15 seconds, the system has combined ambient temperature, wind speed and direction, slopes, humidity, the type of combustible material in the zone (scrub, forest, degree of dryness) with a number of other factors, and projects the probable advance of the fire on the screen. Towns, highways and gas stations also appear on the screen to show the time available for evacuation, if necessary.

This system is supplementary to the nationwide fire risk bulletins published twice daily on the public information page www.inforiesgos.es It is also additional to the system for follow-up of fire prevention resources, indicating the nationwide distribution of firefighting equipment, such as planes and helicopters.

In 2005, at one point, half the forest fires in Europe were burning in Spain, and the year-end balance amounted to over 172,000 hectares of forest and scrub land burnt. This year, abundant rain has delayed the high fire risk period. But this has a negative aspect because the grass that has grown high with the rain is now drying and will soon be easily combustible.

Of course it helps if people use common sense and don't deliberately create situations where fires can start.