Gesfire: the software that speeds up decision-making regarding rural wildfires

Forest fires don’t stop. According to CONAF data, more than 3,400 fires have already been recorded in Chile in the 2022-2023 season. The affected area exceeds 53 thousand hectares. This figure is 30% higher than the same period last year. The institutions continue working every year to improve protocols, train personnel and purchase ad hoc equipment to fight forest fires.

It is in this context that the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Concepción de Chile together with its Data Science Division (UDS by its Spanish acronym) created Gesfire, a sociotechnical model for rural fire management that is currently in use at the CMPC Fire Center. The purpose of this tool is to improve firefighting management and support decision-making. This new platform provides operators online information on a single screen about everything concerning rural wildfires, such as weather status, cartography, firefighting resources, detection of new fire outbreaks and their current status, in addition to a projecting forward how they are likely to spread.

The new program enables the organization of background information, such as the kind of tree plantation on a given terrain, forest management methods and worksites operating on them, and additional meteorological information. It provides data that helps the fire center radio operators manage situations and make strategic decisions, such as how to allocate firefighting resources.

“This software lets decisions be made with less of a cognitive burden placed on the dispatchers, which allows them to visualize information in a dual, graphic and standardized way. It is strongly adapted to the task at hand, so it reduces their stress levels and lets them more easily support each other,” said Marcela Varas, IIT-UdeC Project Manager.

Optimizing the firefighting strategy

The project execution team, made up of professionals from the UDS of the UdeC and CMPC, first studied the processes associated with firefighting that were in use at that time. Then they modeled the problem and conceived of a solution. This was addressed with an interdisciplinary team that included ergonomics specialists from UdeC. They analyzed the needs of the fire management team at the communications center in great detail, which is the nerve center where these events are handled.

A software program was designed using these analyses. Three main aspects stand out; data management (spatial and non-spatial), optimized resource use and the development of a system to organize all the processes involved, giving life to what CMPC has dubbed Gesfire.

CMPC Manager of Corporate Affairs for Forests Ignacio Lira explained the goal of the tool that was created together with the university. “This new software replaced other programs so that it can optimize the company fire center’s decision-making.  The center’s radio operators play a crucial role in firefighting strategy. Now thanks to the Gesfire platform, they can see – on a monitor – a series of data they can use to select and dispatch the right number of fire brigades and the correct land and air resources that will participate in fighting a given fire, making management even more efficient.”

Senior Developer with UDS Pedro Gallardo said that by working hand in hand with the center’s operators and CMPC executives, they came to a clear understanding of the importance of fire management for the company.”  We realized that the forest fire handling process is the most crucial aspect, which was simultaneously giving them the biggest headache. That was because the old fire system did not effectively meet the company’s needs; a great deal of agility and rapid response times.”