Forest Technology Systems Ltd. (FTS) - an AEM brand applications

Every year, 35 million hectares —or about 1% of the world’s forests— are lost to wildfire. Recently in North America the area burnt by wildfires has increased sharply, while regions like Southeast Asia and South America have seen a rise in the number of land-clearing fires and other escaped wildfires in equatorial forests. The extraordinary costs of fire suppression activities are matched only by the damages to property and ecosystems these fire wreak—in South America, this loss is estimated at $1.6 billion annually. In the US, damages from major fires were found to account for as much as 95% of total costs from fire. Advances have been made through the use of basic weather data from meteorological stations. In years past, fire agencies used this data to develop fire danger rating systems that helped them predict, prevent and suppress fires. How can fire management agencies improve their ability to predict, prevent and fight wildfires? By installing dedicated fire weather network.

When wildfires do occur, knowing accurate weather conditions at the location of the fire not only provides a powerful tool to help control the fire, it also helps save lives. Since data from a fixed RAWS station network may not provide the granularity needed, fire management agencies will position several FTS Quick Deploy portable RAWS around the perimeter of the fire. Because they can be set up or dismantled by one person in under 15 minutes, they can be re-positioned as needed. During a wildfire, firefighting crews do not carry laptops (nor do they have time to connect one or the training to operate complex software). FTS customers appreciate the ability to change any configurations as needed for the specific situation with the simple graphical interface on the integrated touchscreen of the Axiom datalogger. Portable RAWS positioned around the fire's perimeter save firefighters' lives.