Institutions, Projects and other Wildland Fire Links
Links to project websites
The following list of links toinstitutions working in wildland fire in the Baltic Region are taken from theGFMC link section. Users of this web page are encouraged to submit new links tobe added to this list. For other thematic fire-related links (e.g., remotesensing of vegetation fires, fire weather and climate forecasts, naturaldisasters, and global environmental monitoring: see GFMC link section at https://gfmc.online/.
Automatic Detection and Reporting of Forest Fires by VTT Automation http://www.vtt.fi/aut/rs/proj/fire/ A fully automatic system has been developed to detect forest fires using data from the meteorological NOAA satellites. The system has been developed in Finland and tested in five experimental periods during the summers 1994 to 1998 in Finland and its neighbouring countries Estonia, Latvia, Russian Karelia, Sweden and Norway. For each detected fire, a telefax including data on the location of the fire, the observation time and a map showing the location, is sent directly to the local fire authorities. The website describing the system, procedures and results of the last years’ experience. In future the site will be updated regularly.
Finnish Meteorological Institute http://metsapalo.fmi.fi/ The Finnish Meteorological Institute publishes an up-to-date fire danger map of Finland based on their new Forest Fire Index Calculation System. Archived readings are attached. Since the website language is Finnish a brief explanation of the system is given here.
Forest Fire Alert System http://www.vtt.fi/aut/rs/proj/FF-Operat/
The system presented in these pages has been developed under ESA contract in preparation of the activity on “Promotion of Space Technologies for supporting the Management of Natural Disasters”. Its objective is to operationally send alerts in case of forest fires or irregular hot events that will occur in Finland and its neighbouring countries and regions. The data used for detecting forest fires are AVHRR-data from NOAA-12, NOAA-14, and NOAA 15 satellites and also ATSR-2 data from ERS 2 satellite. The instrument data are collected, processed and evaluated automatically. In case of detected hot events an alarm will be generated and sent to the local fire dispatching centre of the region where the event is localised. The system is currently installed in the Finnish Meteorological Institute and a prototype version of it using AVHRR data has been successfully working since 1993.
Ministry of Interior Rescue Department Finland http://www.intermin.fi/sm/pelastus/index.html The Ministry of Interior, Rescue Department, Finland, provides information on emergency responses in Finland. One section covers forest fires. While the introductory explanations of the website are provided in several languages, the fire section is currently in Finnish.
BIRD http://www.dlr.de/os/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-3493/ The BIRD mission is a milestone on the way to establish a small satellite programme within the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) and for the development of a new generation of imaging infrared sensors for Earth remote sensing objectives, which can be used for planetary exploration, too. The BIRD small satellite mission shall demonstrate the scientific and technological value and the technical and programmatic feasibility of the combination of ambitious science and new, not yet space-proofed advanced technologies with a small satellite mission conception under low-budget constraints. Main scientific objectives of the BIRD mission are: detection and identification of high-temperature events caused by vegetation fires, volcanic activities, and industrial hazards, burning oil wells, etc.
BIRD has been launched successfully on 22 October 2001.
Fire Ecology Research Group https://gfmc.online/feueroekologie/index.html
The Fire Ecology Research Group is a subdivision of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Biogeochemistry Department, and is located on the new Airport Campus of Freiburg University, Germany. The scope of work of thee research group includes terrestrial (ecological) fire research as well as collaborative studies in atmospheric chemistry. The group hosts (and is identical with) the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC). This university homepage is in German and contains information on current research objectives and projects as well as list of publications, diploma and doctoral theses that have been conducted in conjunction with the Faculty of Forest Science of Freiburg University.
FIRE WATCH – Automatic Early Warning System for Forest Fires
FIRE WATCH is a terrestrial, digital, remote surveillance system which is capable of observing larger wooded regions, and to analyse, evaluate, link and store the collective data.. Due to its sensitivity, accuracy and reliability the system enables an early recognition of forest fires.
Forest Fire News in Germany www.waldbrandnews.de
The volunteer group @-fire, an organization formed of fire fighters, forestry workers and members of other professions, is helping with knowledge, experience, workforce in wildland firefighting and USAR. It provides regular updates on forest fires in Germany as well as news on fatalities (http://www.at-fire.de/lessons-learned orwww.waldbrandunfälle.de)
German Committee for Disaster Reduction within the ISDR http://www.dkkv.org/default.asp
The German Committee for Disaster Reduction (Deutsches Komitee für Katastrophenvorsorge DKKV) is a follow-up arrangement of the former German IDNDR Committee. With the transition of the UN International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) most countries have established new committees under the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR). The DKKV homepage allows insight into the scope of work of the committee, its members (including the Scientific and Operative Advisory Boards) and regular news.
Integrated Fire Management Expert Group IFMEG
IFMEG is a consortium of researchers and practitioners experienced in all aspects of fire management and provides services before, during and after wildland fires. IFMEG is an associated partner of the GFMC.
Space Monitoring Information Support Laboratory http://smis.iki.rssi.ru/dataserv/engl/index.html This web site of the Space Monitoring Information Support Laboratory provides extensive links to sites with satellite imagery for the Russian Federation, meteorological information as well as fire related images are accessible. The sub web page(http://smis.iki.rssi.ru/dataserv/engl/fr97_d_e.htm) offers the up-to-date collection of fire detection imagery for the Russian Federation. An excellent site!
Swedish Environmental Protection Agency http://www.internat.environ.se/documents/press/1999/ep990811.htm
The SEPA is the national authority which coordinates and promotes environmental work in- and outside Sweden. One of their objectives is the conservation and establishment of sustainable forests. As a part of this, forest fires are of interest for this agency. As a mean of public information, press releases are used to describe the danger of forest fires but also the positive effects of prescibed burning.
FireBeaters http://firebeaters.org.uk The Fire Beater website aims to raise awareness of the the importance of vegetation fires in land management and conservation in the British Isles and North-West Europe. It provides a bibliography on fire ecology, links to related sites along with access to the FireBeaters newsgroup.
Natural Resources Institute (NRI) of the University of Greenwich http://www.nri.org/NRMD/Fireweb/English.html
One area of activities of NRI is in environmental sciences, including remote sensing, geographical information systems, forecasting systems, ecological monitoring and environmental impact and risk assessments. The Fire Group of the NRI works with resource managers in a number of developing countries to improving integrated fire management. Satellite data are integrated with local information on vegetation, various boundaries, infrastructure, etc., into fire information system to enable resource managers to assess fire risk, fire activity and fire impacts. They undertake adaptive research and develop local capabilities in building customised fire products appropriate to local management. The Fire Group contributes to routine fire information produced and analysed in Namibia, Botswana, Indonesia and Nicaragua.