Climate change is increasing the frequency, spread, and impact of wildfires. In Greece, this change is felt every summer. Last year, the fire that destroyed 58% of the Dadia National Park was the largest ever recorded in the European Union. This year, in just the first four months, wildfires have already increased by 22% compared to last year. Experts also predict a challenging summer ahead, given the dry winter and limited snow coverage.

Firefighting is a challenging process that requires the rapid deployment of various resources (firefighters, firefighting vehicles, firefighting aircrafts) with swift and coordinated actions on the ground. However, in recent years, many new technologies have been developed that can help prevent, predict, detect, combat, and monitor wildfires more effectively. Greece must start using more of these technologies if it wants to reduce the devastating impact that fires have on our country.

Prevention: Prevention starts months before the fire season and includes the removal of biomass from forests and the creation of fire zones. Using artificial intelligence and data from satellites and soil sensors, models can identify high-risk areas and prioritize prevention efforts. This way, prevention resources can be used in a more targeted and efficient way, reducing the risk of wildfires during the fire season.

Detection: The key to extinguishing wildfires is their early detection. Cutting-edge technologies such as drones can be used in high-risk areas to survey wide areas and notify authorities immediately if a fire is detected. There are also ground sensors that use optical, infrared, and even sound and motion technologies to detect fires. Early detection of wildfires reduces the response time of the fire department, thus creating better conditions to contain the fire while it is still small in size.

Firefighting: Artificial intelligence tools are also used during the extinguishing of wildfires. They analyze data, simulate the course of the fire, and provide guidelines to firefighters on the ground on how to fight the fire more effectively.

The above mentioned tools cannot in any way replace the central firefighting engine of the Greek state. However, they can play a complementary role by ensuring that our country is better prepared, with less flammable material in the forests, shorter response times, and more targeted firefighting. The cost of these technologies is also relatively low compared to investing in firefighting aircrafts, since they focus on prevention, reducing the number of fires and limiting the fire when it is still small.

As a Mediterranean country, Greece is on the front line in the battle against climate change. We must use all the tools at our disposal to protect people, animals, businesses, properties, and our forests.