IoT and Big Data in fire prevention

The Ministry of Rural Areas and the Agency for the Technological Modernization of Galicia (Amtega) reached an agreement for the use of technology to protect Galician mountains from fires.

Since several years, the mountains have been monitored by a network of cameras.  Now, Amtega wants to take another step in the modernization of the fire prevention systems by means of the deployment of sensors for data collection. A Big Data system and the Internet of the Things will allow to analyse the atmospheric parameters of areas at risk.

Three years ago, high performance cameras were installed and they were capable of resisting extreme temperatures and had night vision systems, allowing for the monitoring of 60% of the Galician territory.

This network will be managed through an IoT technological platform, enabling environmental technicians to have real-time access to images and to information about the location of a fire. Moreover, this system will provide decision-making support regarding the extinction of the flames.

The new measures involve the deployment of IoT devices in three telecommunications centres that allow to send the weather information and atmospheric parameters that may impact fires. This information will be processed using Big Data techniques that that will extrapolate valuable data for the prevention of fires and coordinate fire extinguishing tasks in case they occur.

At Air Institute we work for the further development of Big Data and IoT technologies with which we can facilitate the prevention of natural disasters and improve the lives of people living in both rural and urban areas.