Satellite-based products for forest fire prevention and recovery: the PREFER experience

PREFER is a three years projects funded in 2012 in the framework of the FP7 Emergency call. The project objective was to set up a space-based service infrastructure and up-to-date cartographic products, based on remote sensing data, to support the preparedness, prevention, recovery and reconstruction phases of the Forest Fires emergency cycle in the European Mediterranean Region. The products of PREFER were tested and evaluated during the training and the demonstration period of the project, which coincided with the forest fire season of 2015. The products were tested using the online PREFER service and the tests were linked to the pilot areas of the project which are Minho (Portugal), Messenia (Greece), Andalucia (Spain), Sardinia (Italy) and Corse (France). Testing was performed by members of the User Advisory Board (UAB) starting from the training event organized in Coimbra, Portugal in June 2015. The tests continued till the end of the fire season (October 2015) and the end users were provided with updated information for the areas of interest during the entire demonstration period. Due to data availability restrictions (in particular to ancillary required data) not all products were available for testing in all the test areas. However all the PREFER products were tested at least in one pilot area and in cooperation with at least one end user organization. It has to be mentioned that beyond the product suitability and usefulness to the end users the tests included evaluation of the usability of the web-based service of PREFER and the respective quality of service provided. This paper aims at presenting the results of the demonstration activity, the lessons learned and ideas for further enhancement of the developed products devoted to support prevention and recovery phases of the wildfire cycle.