What Abruzzo’s civil protection learned from Portugal’s wildfire analysis system

Luca Di Giammatteo of the Abruzzo Regional Civil Protection Agency studied Portugal’s operational wildfire analysis system, from in-field reporting apps to strategic operational analysis and weekly ANEPC briefings.

From 22 to 29 August 2024, Luca Di Giammatteo of the Regional Civil Protection Agency of Abruzzo carried out a Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) in Portugal, gaining in-depth knowledge of the Portuguese wildfire analysis system and working on features for an application supporting wildfire monitoring and management in the field.

Features that stood out

  • Fire incident reporting via app
  • Distinguishing active from contained fires
  • Meteogram integration
  • Map interface and perimeter tracking
  • In-field data collection

Organisation and strategy

Beyond the technology, Luca explored how the system is organised:

  • National Civil Protection structure: how the Portuguese national civil protection organisation coordinates firefighting.
  • Strategic operational analysis: tools that support the bulletins and analyses used to organise firefighting strategies, including designated water access points in every municipality.
  • ANEPC weekly briefings: where ongoing fires and response strategies were discussed in detail.
  • Fire incident analysis: including the significant Portalegre wildfire.
  • INFOP: a study of the document framing wildfire management and information flows in Portugal.

The experience deepened his understanding of the Portuguese system and lays a foundation for future collaboration between Italian and Portuguese civil protection.

About the grant

GranteeLuca Di Giammatteo
Home institutionRegional Civil Protection Agency of Abruzzo, Italy
HostForest Research Centre (CEF), School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, and ANEPC, Portugal
Dates22–29 August 2024
Grant typeShort-Term Scientific Mission

This grant was funded by COST Action CA22164 – European Network on Extreme Fire Behaviour (NERO), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

COST

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Action Details

Action Chair: Dr. Theodore M. Giannaros
Action Vice Chair: Dr. Akli Benali
Start Date: 17 October 2024
End date: 16 October 2027
Download Action MoU