What is the object of the project?
Greece, due to its particular geography and geographical location, is faced with, especially in recent years, as a result of the effects of climate change, the significant increase in the frequency of occurrence of extreme weather events that create serious natural and environmental risks and disasters. These impacts affect in particular the human life and health, as well as the economy, the environment and the culture.
Taking into account the increasing frequency of occurrence of extreme weather events and especially the occurrence of fires, as a result of climate change, the supply and installation of fire detection systems in higher-risk areas throughout the country, providing coverage in selected areas of intervention. These systems will contribute to early warning and information gathering to prevent and address these incidents. At the same time, they will provide data on the forecasting and development of events to the operational centres, supporting the firefighting work.
On a broader level, the project implementation aims to:
- The protection of life in the event of outbreak of fire,
- The protection of the natural wealth of the country,
- The protection of public and private property in the event of outbreak of fire.
The above target will be achieved through the installation of appropriate fire monitoring, locating and detecting systems, which will provide coverage over the wider area of the selected areas and will enable the transmission of information to the Single Coordination Control Centre.
The detection and warning systems will be of cutting-edge technology and will enable monitoring the areas of interest through autonomous monitoring stations equipped with optical Lidar sensor systems, a meteorological station, special sensors, telecommunications equipment and high-resolution video recording systems on a twenty-four-hour basis, both during the day and at night.
In this context, via the above technical characteristics, data will be directly obtained from the points of the event, in order to be properly evaluated and utilized, so as to design an immediate response strategy. The coordination of the stakeholders, as well as the timely exchange of information, supported by the proposed project, is key to the prevention and effective response to emergencies, especially fires.
What are the main objectives and the expected benefits of the project?
The operational criticality of the project is highlighted by the increase in forest fires in our Country, in recent years.
As results of the project implementation, the following are expected to be achieved:
- Adopting a modern and effective approach to address natural disasters such as fires, contributing to both their prevention and management by the Fire Service and the relevant competent bodies.
- Enhancing preparedness – in terms of organisation and actions – of the Services and bodies involved to address fire incidents and ensuring an immediate, coordinated and pre-planned response.
- Accurate and timely provision of information to emergency responders in case of forest fires.
- Planning appropriate actions for a more immediate and effective response to incidents.