Regional Natural Park of Campo dei Fiori: a best practice for the prevention of forest fires.

The Regional Natural Park of Campo dei Fiori is a Public Law Body located just a few kilometers north of the city of Varese. 

Established by Regional Law no. 17 of March 19th, 1984 and further expanded in 2009, it extends over approximately 6,300 hectares of land in 17 municipalities and 2 Mountain Communities in the Province of Varese. Its geographical location and geological characteristics have favored the development of very diverse vegetation, with areas rich in wildlife. Significant historical-architectural presences include the complex of the Sacred Mount of Varese (UNESCO Heritage), the Grand Hotel, the Art Nouveau villas, the Abbey of Ganna, and the Rocca di Orino.

In October 2017, a violent fire struck the Park, leaving behind devastation: for almost a month several outbreaks engaged firefighters and civil protection men in a fierce effort to defend forests, animals, and homes and businesses. Over 350 hectares of forest were destroyed, and estimated damages exceeded €2,000,000.

Subsequently, in 2019 (northern slope), a new arson event devastated about 318 hectares of wooded surface with estimated damages of around €1,500,000.

Climate change has consequences for the risk of fires: experts estimate that by 2050, the affected surfaces will increase from 8% to 23%, due to increasingly high temperatures, long periods of drought, and changes in plant species. 

With the looming threat of ever more extreme fires due to climate change, the Park Authority recognizes the urgent need for a solid surveillance system to protect the park and its inhabitants. 

For the Park Authority, it is clear that working ahead with interventions on woods and infrastructure is of crucial importance: it is necessary to respect the environment and take care of the territory with projects and continuity, with a long-term perspective.

It is with this perspective that Maurizio Fratini, CTO of Security Service Red, Axis partner and consultant for the Park Authority, proposed replacing the outdated analog surveillance system with an integrated solution consisting of Axis network cameras with integrated deep learning modules and Video Management Software Genetec.

The Park Authority has found a solution that meets its needs and appreciates the effectiveness and simplicity of operation, which offers all the flexibility needed to qualify as a best practice for those dealing with wildland fire. 

To date, with only 3 cameras from the AXIS Q6225-LE series, the Park Authority able to cover a good part of the park area, thanks to the high zoom capacity and integration with the Security Center VMS of Genetec: the remote control room has two monitors, one displaying the park map and the other transmitting camera images. 
This integrated configuration uses metadata to allow operators to quickly react to potential risk situations, identifying their exact position for further examination. The high quality of the images also makes it easy to use video footage for investigative purposes, to analyze after the event where and how the fire developed.

Among the priorities of the agency, several key objectives stand out:

• Prevention: a fundamental action in limiting and seeking to contain and eliminate events such as forest fires that would compromise the mountainous and hilly ecosystem of the park area, impacting a heritage of great naturalistic importance.
• Assisting human intervention with innovative technologies, conducting more pressing territorial surveillance with optical systems that allow observation of a wide territory even remotely.
• Resource optimization: Costs must be contained and resources used to the fullest, including volunteer work. Investments should aim to maximize operational efficiency, allowing for tangible savings in monitoring the territory through the use of traditional means compared to remote observation and targeted interventions. 

Deep learning modules integrated into cameras pave the way for the system to detect and offer crucial information for predictive analysis: cameras - sensors interacting with other sensors - learn the stable conditions of the forest and, with dedicated analytics, simulate potential risk situations based on changes in environmental factors such as humidity conditions, wind speed and direction, leaf litter accumulation, etc., sending signals that can be easily monitored remotely - with the possibility of multiple users and mobility - to keep the situation under control and potentially allow the Directors of Firefighting Operations to act promptly. 

With regard to this, evaluations are currently underway on three distinct scenarios, with the aim of selecting the optimal solutions for each context and validating them at the technical-scientific level. The intent of the Park Agency is to become a reference point, a best practice to follow for other institutions interested in prevention and land protection. 

"Having a very open, integrable and scalable basis, ready to welcome future developments of the project, was essential in consulting with the Park Agency," considers Fratini. Among the system enhancements, in addition to thermal cameras for the prevention of root to root fires, the activation of bodycams and modular thermal cameras to be positioned on the helmets of those who will go to extinguish the fire will be examined: this will be very useful for their protection and for moving more safely in the fire. 

Further added value has been given with the activation of tablets for mobile units and for the Directors of Firefighting Operations, so as to have real-time information on the situation and development of possible fires but also as a tool for prevention analysis.