Situation awareness in the large forest fires response. A solution based on wireless mesh networks

Abstract

Large Forest Fires are one of the most destructive and recurring natural disaster types around the world, and year after year they leave environmental, material and human irreparable losses in the social nuclei in which they occur. To face them, it is essential to have a Situation Awareness that allows decisions making according to reality, promoting the collaboration between the all involved and execution of effective actions to manage the fire. This paper describes the architecture for the implementation of a Command and Control Information System, which makes it possible to get and share with all stakeholders, the required information to confirm an accurate and timely Situation Awareness of disaster scene. It is based on the establishment of a flexible, resilient and scalable Wireless Mesh Network, which supporting communications both inside and outside the area affected by the fire, and allows the surveillance of environment state and the response units deployed within the same.