Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Fire Economics, Planning, and Policy: A Global View
Remfiresat, Real Time Emergency
Management for Forest Fire Services via
Satellite1
Jesús Gonzalo, 2 Susana Martínez, 3 Gonzalo Martín3
Abstract
The main aim of Remfiresat is to demonstrate the synergetic use of available space
technologies for the management of forest fires. A consortium led by INSA, in collaboration
with ‘Junta de Castilla y León’, and financed by the European Space Agency developed and
evaluated the system during the summer campaign of 2003 in Castilla y León. The
demonstration process was executed in three phases: the first focused on the design and using
a few representative resources, the second developing the whole system and the third under
real fire conditions (June to September 2003).
Satellite Earth Observation, Navigation and Communication services were combined in
a single management tool that allowed operators to make use of all available datasets from
any location, from central offices to in-field command centres. Current assets were fully
integrated with the satellite-based system.
The Dynamic-Distributed-GIS tool manages national, regional, provincial and local
information, following the established decision-making chain. The test site was the province
of Salamanca (Provincial Centre + Mobile unit), monitored from Valladolid (Regional
Centre) and reporting to the National DGCN (Valladolid and Madrid).
Private and Public communication networks were complemented by satellite
communication lines to provide redundancy or access to remote areas. Mobile resources were
referenced by a GPS system and communicated via ORBCOMM (or existing INMARSAT
terminals).
An Earth Observation processing centre, located at LATUV (Valladolid) acquired and
prepared the satellite images from general purpose satellites (NOAA, FENYUNG, TERRA,
METEOSAT) and dedicated ones (BIRD). Five different products were generated on at least
a daily basis (depending on acquisition frequency): fire risk index, hot spot map, fire-line
maps, burned area cartography and weather forecasts.
In some specific situations a deep study of the evolution and consequences of a big fire
was required. So, high-resolution images, as LANDSAT images, were acquired to obtain the
burned area map, and a fire area simulator (FARSITE) was used to analyse the fore
behaviour, starting pint and possible evolutions.
German satellite BIRD also supported the image provision, thanks to its dedicated
thermal sensors, specialized in the identification of hot spots. Results showed that even as
small as 5-m fire-line outbreaks can be detected.
Images and more information can be obtained directly contacting the authors.
1
An abbreviated version of this paper was presented at the second international symposium on
fire economics, planning, and policy: a global view, 19–22 April, 2004, Córdoba, Spain.
2
Project Manager, INSA Ingeniería y Servicios Aeroespaciales. Department of Studies and Missions, Pº
Pintor Rosales, 34, Madrid, CP 28008.
3
System Engineer, INSA Ingeniería y Servicios Aeroespaciales. Department of Studies and Missions, Pº
Pintor Rosales, 34, Madrid, CP 28008.
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GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-208
Session 5B—Remfiresat, Real Time Emergency Management—Gonzalo, Martínez, Martín
System Concept
The objective of Remfiresat is to demonstrate the use of satellite technologies to
manage an emergency situation as the uncontrolled fire is. The system has been
designed following a user requirement driven approach and the system suitability has
been proved and validated through a comprehensive set of demonstrations to check
the benefits of the application under real crisis scenarios.
Remfiresat combines the main satellite technologies to provide a new orientation
in the management of natural disasters: Earth Observation, Navigation systems and
satellite communications. These space based systems work in a synergetic manner
with the ground user facilities to reach a more efficient utilization of available
technology.
Remfiresat General Description
Architecture of the Remfiresat System
Fire Fighting services in the European countries are organized in different centralized
or de-centralized structures to optimize the management of resources. Remfiresat
system is embedded at decision maker premises to receive all information from
external and internal sources.
Madrid
RCC
National
Command Centre
Voice
Messages
Off line data
RCC
National
Command Centre
Local Office
Valladolid
Voice
Messages
Off line data
Geodata
Valladolid
RCC
Regional
Command Centre
Voice
Messages
Off line data
Geodata
RCC
Provincial
Command Centre
Geodata
Salamanca
Voice
Image
Position
Message
EDG
External Data
Gateway
Voice
Message
Position
Voice
Messages
Geodata
Other positions
RPMA
Advanced
Command Centre
Voice (sat)
Position
Messages
.
HHT
Forest
Agent Head
Battle Field
Voice
Position
Position
Messages
RVT
Water Pump
HHT
Supression
Manager
Position
Messages
RVT
Bulldozer
Position
Messages
HHT
Rapid
Attak
Voice
Video
Position
Observation
Airplane
Canadair
Figure 1—Remfiresat system architecture embedded at user hierarchical
organization. HHT is a hand-held terminal and RVT is a vehicle terminal.
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Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Fire Economics, Planning, and Policy: A Global View
Session 5B—Remfiresat, Real Time Emergency Management—Gonzalo, Martínez, Martín
The Castilla-Leon Forest Fire service in Spain has been selected to run the
experiment as reference user. The region encloses several provinces, regional
managers report to national authority and provincial ones to regional. Within
provinces, if a fire has enough entity an advanced command centre is deployed in the
battle field for accurate management activities.
Remfiresat system is present at all scales in the fire fighting decision chain,
providing communication lines for transferring information among managers, but
also from sources to managers. This communication is established following the
hierarchical user structure. The transferred information includes apart from
traditional voice and fax capabilities, digital data, imagery and positioning of mobile
resources.
The different user bodies are equipped with data gathering terminals and
appropriate communication devices to form the system network. Besides, mobile
resources are equipped with positioning capability and forest agents in the battle field
are fitted out with communication assets.
The External Data Gateway (EDG), included in the Remfiresat network, is in
charge of satellite data processing.
Remfiresat Command Centres
The Command Centres are the brains of the Remfiresat system. These are a group of
nodes interconnected through a telecommunication network where operator can
access system services, manage resources, watch Earth observation products and
communicate each other.
The generic Remfiresat Command Centre (RCC) is located at user decision
level. The RCC is a standard desktop computer with specific hardware and software
to connect to other system terminals. This centre is able to receive process and
transfer the requested information, either external or generated by the system. The
main data packages, manage by the RCC are: voice and message communications,
positioning of mobiles, geo and meteorological data and voice, fax and internet with
other authorities.
The Advanced Command Centre (RPMA) is normally deployed in a forest area
relatively close to the fire front; this centre is a replica of the provincial centre and
becomes the neurological centre at the battle field. It requires specific equipment to
provide high bandwidth link between the provincial module and the advanced one to
exchange large pieces of information, for instance satellite data. The link is provided
by a portable VSAT station which is deployed at the RPMA unit and a second
antenna permanently installed at the provincial centre.
The RPMA has been installed either in a tent peg or a UMMT (Mobile unit for
Meteorological Data). Computers and subsystems are installed in user existing
facilities so that size and power consumption are adapted to these premises.
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GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-208
Session 5B—Remfiresat, Real Time Emergency Management—Gonzalo, Martínez, Martín
Figure 2—Remfiresat Advanced Command Centre installed in a tent peg and a
mobile vehicle.
Remfiresat Hand-held and Vehicle Terminals
Remfiresat terminals are individual units to be operated directly during the firefighting activity. There are different models of terminals, which are utilised
depending on the user requirements in a real situation:
x
x
Remfiresat Hand-held terminals (HHT): They are units providing voice and
automatic positioning among HHT and either the provincial or the advanced
command centre. There are two kind of hand-held terminals regarding different
messaging capabilities:
o
HHT1: is a satellite mobile phone which provide voice capabilities
through Globalstar system
o
HHT2: is an ORBCOMM message communicator. It includes automatic
GPS positioning reported to its corresponding command centre and a user
interface with an input keyboard and LCD display.
Remfiresat Vehicle Terminals (RVT): they are units installed in fire fighter
vehicles, water pump trucks, bulldozers, airplanes and RPMA vehicle to provide
GPS positioning and messaging capabilities to provincial and advance command
centres. Orbcomm is the used system for terrestrial units and Inmarsat is the one
for aerial units.
Figure 3—HHT1: Globalstar mobile phone. HHT2: Communicator ORBCOMM +
ALCOM terminal. RVT: Psyon Orbcomm terminal
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Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Fire Economics, Planning, and Policy: A Global View
Session 5B—Remfiresat, Real Time Emergency Management—Gonzalo, Martínez, Martín
There is other alternative, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) with an expansion
kit including GPS and GPRS capabilities. The PDA has implemented a reduced
version of the Remfiresat system that allows introduction and sharing information,
viewing layers, etc.
Earth Observation Processing Centre
Remfiresat system intends to integrate different space technologies in a compactfriendly system to generate value-added products that improve efficiency to the
protocols currently in use. The EDG is in charge of the acquisition, processing,
storing and dispatching of the Earth observation data and related products, making
use of as much as possible remote sensing satellites and suppliers.
The most important dataset managed by the EDG is the remote sensing data,
both near real time and historical. The source of this information provides from
diverse satellites which different passing hours. The appropriate agreements are
signed with data providers to ensure the timely arrival of the data from the different
sources.
The EDG produces interesting products for fire fighting. It takes the satellite raw
data and the ancillary data to further generate the following products:
Fire line: It consists of a vector representation of the fire front. The product is
generated when a fire is produced during a pass of the MODIS-TERRA satellite and
within their coverage area. BIRD demonstration satellite has been also used during
demonstrations. The fire line is ready one hour and ten minutes after the beginning of
the raw data transmission. Attending to external data, the calendar of high resolution
satellites passes is studied and the passes coinciding with a fire development of
certain relevance are located, so the image is acquired to estimate fire line and burned
area map.
Hot spot map: It is composed of a GIS layer containing suspicious points hotter
than initially expected. NOAA, FENGYUN and MODIS are used to cover the whole
Castilla-Leon and areas of Portugal.
Risk index: It is a referenced map in UTM-H30 with a grid of 10x10 km
containing an estimate of the fire risk, indicating the probability of occurrence of fire
spreading. The fire risk index is daily elaborated at passing of the NOAA,
FENGYUN and MODIS satellites. As time difference between FENGYUN and
TERRA satellites is very short the most appropriate image is selected in each case.
Burned area map: It consists of a geo-referenced image in raster format with the
burned area highlighted. The product is generated by using NOAA and FENGYUN
satellites providing 1x1 km resolution, but also TERRA with 250x250 m resolution.
The detected burn surface has to be large enough to be seen in both scales. NOAA
and FENGYUN satellites can cartography minimum burned area around 70 hectares,
while TERRA around 5 hectares approximately. Commercial satellites can be also
used, as for instance Landsat, providing quite better resolution.
Weather forecast: The weather forecast products (ground temperature, humidity,
accumulated rainfall, wind velocity and wind direction) are elaborated by using the
MM5 Weather Forecast Model.
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GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-208
Session 5B—Remfiresat, Real Time Emergency Management—Gonzalo, Martínez, Martín
Fire propagation forecast: It consists of the propagation of the fire line by using
the FARSITE fire propagator. The mentioned simulation tool incorporates existing
models of surface fire, crown fire, point-surface fire acceleration, spotting, and fuel
moisture. The models are integrated using a vector propagation technique for fire
perimeter expansion that control for both space and time resolution of fire growth
over the landscape. The model produces vector fire perimeters (polygons) at
specified time intervals. The vertices of these polygons contain information on the
fire's spread rate and intensity, which are interpolated to produce raster maps of fire
behaviour.
Figure 4—Earth Observation elaborated products in the Remfiresat tool. From left to
right: Risk index map, hot spot map, fire front line and burned area map
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Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Fire Economics, Planning, and Policy: A Global View
Session 5B—Remfiresat, Real Time Emergency Management—Gonzalo, Martínez, Martín
Table 1—Earth Observation elaborated products and features regarding forest fire fighting
phase.
Forest Fire Fighting
Phase
Prevention phase
Detection phase
Suppression phase
Damage assessment
phase
All phases
Remfiresat Product
Risk index
Hot spot map
Fire front representation
Fire propagation forecast
(optional)
Burned area assessment
Weather forecast
Features
10 km resolution
1000-250 m resolution (real time)
Pixel size accuracy
1000-250 m resolution (real time)
30 m resolution (off-line)
Pixel size accuracy
1000-250 m resolution (real time)
30 m resolution (off-line)
Pixel size accuracy
It is worthy of mention the German BIRD satellite (Bi-spectral Infra Red
Detection micro satellite) which is a technological demonstrator. The main objective
of this satellite is to show forest-fire services capacities and possibilities of a future
fire-activities dedicated satellite constellation. Its thermal sensors have better
resolution than currently existing general purpose satellite sensors, such as AVHRR
or MODIS, making it able to locate small fires. BIRD detected fire lines as small as
5-m during a set of prescribed fires performed in the region of Galicia on May 2003.
BIRD satellite images were also used during demonstration activities within
Remfiresat.
Dynamic and distributed geographical information system
The DDGIS is the application running at the Command Centres allowing users to
manage local and external resources temporally allocated to them, alarms, fires,
geographic data and other events of interest for the fire fighting activities in the
different phases of the crisis.
The dynamic and distributed GIS (DDGIS) tool uses a data model (distributed
database) that automatically actualized with the information received or requested.
The DDGIS tool provides a friendly and easy-to-learn user interface, allowing
the operator to see the evolution of the different means. Each element (fires. alarms,
bulldozers, canadairs, brigades, etc) is represented on the maps, in their current
position, with a representative symbol. Layers with topographic information can also
be loaded. Users decide in any moment the visualized information.
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Session 5B—Remfiresat, Real Time Emergency Management—Gonzalo, Martínez, Martín
Figure 5—DDGIS main view. Different elements are present in the main window.
The chief components are a general map and a group of maps that represents
zoomed areas of the general one. These maps are complemented with a system log
(under both maps) and a properties window, placed under the group of maps. These
four elements are where operators can analyse results of software functions
accessed by the main menu and the toolbar buttons, both placed at the top of the
window.
The software has two operational modes: A Real-time mode, involving fire
fighting, resource assignment, communications between nodes and reception of
external data, and an off-line mode, where history processing shall be made in order
to generate reports and statistics.
System demonstration and operational use
The system has been widely demonstrated in order to verify its performances and to
fulfil user expectations. Several proofs have been carried out: concept proof, full
commissioning, two real fire demonstrations and finally full season operation during
2003 fire campaign.
The concept proof validated the proposed technical solutions provided by a
limited and representative set of Remfiresat modules. The full commissioning was
carried out after the full system integration. Two prescribed fires were executed along
with this last demonstration in order to obtain satellite images to produce the first
forest fire fighting products and to test the system in a real situation.
After demonstrated the successful system operation, the system was running
during the 2003 summer campaign. It was intended that operators used the whole
system functionalities and capabilities during a long period of time, for them to see
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Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Fire Economics, Planning, and Policy: A Global View
Session 5B—Remfiresat, Real Time Emergency Management—Gonzalo, Martínez, Martín
the advantages of space technologies and in forest fire fighting, and to generate a
feedback used by Remfiresat system engineers to prepare the migration to a full
operational system.
Figure 6—The hot spot map obtained from MODIS-TERRA satellite revealed the
existence of a forest fire 25 km far from the Spanish border. The Forest Fire service
was warmed by the provided map and then prepared attack resources in case an
intervention was needed.
Conclusions
The appropriate synergy among communication, navigation and remote sensing
satellite services leads to a system that fulfils the requirements of the authorities and
operators involved in the forest fire-fighting activities in a cost effective manner.
The system is composed of a network of Command Centres, one of them
offering the capability of installation close to the fire area, from which all the
suppression activities are commanded and monitored. The Command Centres share
the information in a hierarchical manner, minimising the data flows and ensuring data
integrity.
Additionally, the system provides data terminals and communicators to be
carried by the field personnel and the fire suppression vehicles. These terminals open
new easy and robust communication channels, providing extra features like
messaging capabilities or positioning to allow managers to better organise the work.
Finally, remote sensing data from existing satellites are served by the system
automatically in such a way that the fire suppression manager has accurate
information on the extent and position of the fire, together with other data supplied
by the fire propagation software. Other products, like fire risk index and fire damage,
are also available before and after the fire.
Remfiresat is a high value tool for the fire fighters at all levels in the decision
making chain.
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Session 5B—Remfiresat, Real Time Emergency Management—Gonzalo, Martínez, Martín
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