{"id":3335,"date":"2026-11-09T15:21:34","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T13:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/?p=3335"},"modified":"2026-11-09T15:21:35","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T13:21:35","slug":"forest-fire-monitoring-detection-and-tracking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/en\/2026\/11\/09\/forest-fire-monitoring-detection-and-tracking\/","title":{"rendered":"FOREST FIRE MONITORING, DETECTION AND TRACKING\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Terrassa has an extensive area of rural and forest land. Particularly in the north-western part of the municipality, these areas connect with the Sant Lloren\u00e7 del Munt i l\u2019Obac Natural Park and form a natural environment of significant ecological and social value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The area surrounding the park is frequently visited by hikers and includes residential developments such as els Caus-Pinetons and el Molinot. For this reason, the early detection of forest fires is essential not only to protect the natural environment, but also the people who live in or visit the area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of the Terrassa Digital City project and the Smart Buildings initiative, a forest fire monitoring, detection and tracking system has been deployed. The solution is designed to automatically and continuously identify potential signs of fire and generate alerts as early as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
INSTALLED INFRASTRUCTURE<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A dual-sensor camera has been installed on the roof of the historic building at the Audiovisual Park of Catalonia. On the one hand, a thermal sensor detects temperature levels in the surrounding area. On the other, a conventional visible-spectrum optical camera uses artificial intelligence algorithms to detect smoke plumes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This combination complements visual analysis with thermal detection, improving the system\u2019s ability to identify potential incidents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
SOLUTION ARCHITECTURE<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The system generates alarms when smoke is detected or when temperatures exceed predefined thresholds. Alerts are sent by email to the relevant personnel and stored on the Digital City Platform, where they can be viewed through a dashboard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For each detection, the system provides information on the type of event, smoke or fire, includes the Fire Weather Index (FWI), and attaches a photograph. The image is published in an object storage environment based on the S3 standard and integrated into the Sentilo Terrassa IoT platform. This makes it possible to retain the image while the alarm is being managed and to make it available to the relevant recipients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The main objective of this use case is the early detection of forest fires. Therefore, it is a priority for the system to send alerts to the Civil Protection Service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the artificial intelligence algorithms used by the optical camera cannot distinguish between smoke produced in winter by chimneys from isolated houses in the surrounding area, smoke generated by a tractor mowing fields, or morning fog forming above the trees at certain times of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For this reason, the Digital City Platform includes a control mechanism that uses local weather conditions to determine whether smoke-detection alarms generated by the optical camera should be processed and sent to the Civil Protection Service or cancelled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
METEOROLOGICAL VALIDATION OF DETECTIONS<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Canadian Fire Weather Index system has been used as a reference. This system estimates the potential behaviour of forest fires based on meteorological conditions. Using this framework and data from local weather stations, a simplified custom index has been defined. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The index validates optical detections using four variables: temperature, relative humidity, accumulated precipitation over the previous 24 hours, and wind speed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Optical-camera alarms are processed only when the calculated index is above 5. By contrast, alarms generated by the thermal camera are processed and sent to Civil Protection without applying this validation filter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
INFORMATION RECEIVED BY CIVIL PROTECTION<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The alert email includes the time of the event, the detection source, the event type, meteorological data at the time of detection, the calculated index value, and a photograph of the detection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The image is particularly useful for assessing the context of the event and identifying potential false positives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
CONCLUSIONS<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The forest fire monitoring, detection and tracking system contributes to four operational objectives: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Proactive and early prevention.<\/strong> Automatic detection helps identify potential fire outbreaks at an early stage and improves response times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minimising environmental and human impact.<\/strong> Early activation of alarms enables action to be taken before a fire spreads and helps protect ecosystems, infrastructure and people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interconnection with municipal and emergency systems.<\/strong> Integration with the smart buildings network and urban systems facilitates communication and coordination of emergency response actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A replicable and scalable model.<\/strong> Terrassa\u2019s experience can serve as a reference for other municipalities wishing to apply smart and sustainable strategies to forest fire risk management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through this project, Terrassa continues to advance in the application of smart technologies to improve safety, protect its natural heritage and strengthen the ability of municipal services to respond to emergency situations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Terrassa has an extensive area of rural and forest land. Particularly in the north-western part of the municipality, these areas connect with the Sant Lloren\u00e7 del Munt i l\u2019Obac Natural Park and form a natural environment of significant ecological and social value. The area surrounding the park is frequently visited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":3333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[720],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smart-city-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3342,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335\/revisions\/3342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrassa.cat\/ciutatdigital\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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