A Holistic Fire Management Ecosystem for Prevention, Detection and Restoration of Environmental Disasters

Project Information

TREEADS

Grant agreement ID: 101036926

DOI

10.3030/101036926

Project closed

EC signature date 27 September 2021

Start date 1 December 2021

End date 31 May 2025

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 22 720 545,43

EU contribution

€ 19 258 995,18

Coordinated by

RISE FIRE RESEARCH AS
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TREEADS (A Holistic Fire Management Ecosystem for Prevention, Detection and Restoration of Environmental Disasters)

Reporting period: 2023-06-01 to 2024-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The TREEADS project addresses several major challenges that wildfires pose, including current technological and infrastructural restrictions and severe environmental, societal, and economic consequences. The TREEADS fire management ecosystem will include various innovative technologies and systems covering all time-interconnected stages of wildfires (before, during, and after). Over 26 different technologies are optimized, developed, and validated in the implementation of TREEADS, including coordinated novel pilotless aircraft (multi-rotor and fixed wing) and satellite systems, an advanced analytical and modeling framework for fire prevention, detection, and response, forest and landscape restoration and an emerging set of fire protection and suppression technologies. Expected results are, among others, the minimization of the significant impacts caused by extreme fires and experience strengthening for end-users within a rich set of realistic scenarios via the project’s training programme. In TREEADS, we focus our research, development, and integration efforts on delivering systems of high relevance and benefit to the relevant end-users and the forestry market while providing them, in turn, with an excellent opportunity to understand potential weaknesses or limitations of current technologies. The TREEADS tools and solutions are demonstrated and validated under actual operating conditions in eight complex pilot implementations in Taiwan and seven European countries: Austria, Norway, Spain, Italy, Romania, Greece, and Germany. The project is also carrying out a disciplined assessment of the impact of the developed technologies based on methods that consider both social and financial aspects (e.g. Social Return on Investment (S-ROI)).

We have the specific objectives listed below.
Objective 1: "Improving the efficiency of current fire-fighting operations", (Addressed in WP2-WP8).

Objective 2: "Advancing operational reaction and mitigation algorithms", (Addressed in WP4).

Objective 3: "Deploying, validating, and testing the solution in realistic live demonstrations over 8 different climate scenarios, biogeographical/socio-economic contexts",(Addressed in WP4, WP5, WP6, and WP8).

Objective 4: "Protecting human lives, the environment and the property",(Addressed in WP4, and WP5).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

WP1:
- Administrative and financial management of the project was carried out.

WP2:
- Tasks T2.1-2.5 are completed, with Task T2.6 still active.
- Each pilot provides updated user stories and KPIs that outline the operational needs, such as fire prevention strategies, data collection, real-time monitoring, and training through AR/VR modules.
- The THP supports open, flexible, and interoperable tools/technologies for wildfire lifecycle management, ensuring both technical adaptability and operational capability.

WP3:
- Development of a Social Network Analysis Survey (SNA) to identify active stakeholders in the 8 pilot regions. The analysis of the SNA results was discussed with project partners in an online webinar, resulting in the preliminary version of the TREEADS stakeholder engagement learnings in June 2024.
- Development and consolidation of the TREEADS platform architecture, providing a comprehensive and detailed vision of the main functional and non-functional requirements, information architecture, as well as the design blocks and modules that make up the system.

WP4:
- Developed a comprehensive solution combining daily fire danger forecasting and an early warning system.
- Implemented innovative methodologies for risk prioritization and detailed forest mapping using high-resolution satellite imagery and drones.
- Developed a state-of-the-art fire simulation platform that models fire spread, wind dynamics, and smoke dispersion.

WP5:
- Partners concentrated on developing hotspot detection and routing support technologies. Wildfire hotspot detection was tackled using two distinct methodologies: remote approach and an on-site approach.
- Compressed OS foam was assessed for environmental impact by standard testing according to international standards for toxicity.
- Personal monitoring and protective equipment: The approach was the development of a helmet with useful info overlayered on the AR display.

WP6:
- Development of Post-Fire Soil Assessment Methodologies. A predictive machine learning framework was created, combining aerial data and ground truth samples to assess post-wildfire soil conditions. This methodology produced Soil Health Vulnerability Maps, aiding restoration planning and highlighting areas at high risk of erosion or nutrient loss.
- Extensive research for restoration features and methodologies, thorough architecture, documentation, requirements, designs as well as related data collection for the DSS have been completed.

WP7:
- The TREEADS Holistic Platform (THP) integrates tools and technologies into a unified system for wildfire management.
- Developed a phased approach for integrating tools into the platform, including legacy systems via iframes and fully custom services.

WP8:
- The Pilot Campaigns have been conducted according to the single Pilot Plans.
- Within the last reporting period all the Pilots have performed Field Exercises for validation of tools both using the TREEADS Holistic Platform (THP) or standalone tools, material or methodologies.

WP9:
- The organization of a series of 19 Exploitation Workshops with the participation of TREEADS partners, which ensured the required levels of participation, engagement and collaboration in the TREEADS exploitation process.
- The design, development and launch of a Knowledge Marketplace Repository (KMR)
- The finalization of the methods and templates for the documentation of the detailed exploitation plans of the partners, including both individual and joint exploitation plans for the various TREEADS assets.

WP10:
-The team developed and updated dissemination materials, including brochures, banners, and templates, while maintaining a robust social media presence with over 220 posts, 21 newsletters, and 14 multimedia pieces.
-The consortium also participated in 46 workshops, 12 pilot events, 2 webinars, and multiple clustering events, showcasing TREEADS technologies and fostering collaboration with stakeholders.
-WP10 organized over 40 workshops and joint actions

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The TREEADS project will bring benefits for the society in terms of:
- Technological and business impact: Enhance innovation capacity and create new market opportunities by developing new solutions, e.g. adapting UAV systems for forest surveillance, thus opening up for higher market uptake of similar technologies.

- Industrial impact: Strengthen competitiveness and growth of companies by providing proposals for forestry regulation changes, hence increasing the demand for industrial innovation on wildfire preparedness, response, and restoration.

- Academic impact: Enhanced transfer of knowledge among stakeholders (industry, research, etc.) by engagement in dialogue regarding wildfire safety during TREEADS workshops/seminars.

- Public and industrial impact: Wider awareness towards the importance of safety needs in the forests, and wildland urban interface(WUI) by TREEADS dissemination activities, including advisory groups, wildfire risk management (WFRM) clustering activities, and several public conferences.

TREEADS Leaflet Page 2

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