An Integrated Wildfire Detection, Monitoring, Warning and Emergency Response System Based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Nowadays, the adverse impacts of climate change are visible on a global scale. Especially natural disasters, such as wildfires, tend to be exacerbated by unusual climatic conditions. The ever-increasing rate of unpredictable natural disasters which endanger both the environment and human lives, in addition to the obsolesce, inadequacy and inefficiency of current crises management and evacuation methods have brought to the surface the need for a more innovative approach to forest fire prevention and response as well as mitigation of its socioeconomic and environmental consequences. This paper presents an integrated methodology for the development of an early warning and wildfire management system, focusing on the rapid detection of the initial source of the fire, the estimation of fire propagation as well as the facilitation of its immediate containment and extinguishing before it spreads and cannot be controlled and the timely evacuation of endangered areas. The proposed system utilizes emerging Industry 4.0 technologies, i.e., Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data Analytics for data collection, processing and analysis as well as Social Networking technologies able to facilitate two-way communication between residents or visitors of a forested suburban area and the local authorities. The proposed solution after its successful implementation is expected to complement preexisting governmental civil protection mechanisms and provide a plethora of socioeconomic and environmental benefits.