Spanish Forest Firefighters
In July 2015, SPOT Gen3 safety devices were selected to track and protect teams of firefighters as they battle against forest fire and wildfires in the vast expanse of Castilla La Mancha in central Spain.
Junta de Castilla La Mancha, the administrative authority whose responsibilities include forest and wildfire management for this region, selected wildfire solutions specialist Technosylva to provide 250 SPOT Gen3 devices in order to safely track its forest fire and wildfire response teams and vehicles. Fire is a major problem in the dry and often hot region, and some 2,000 response personnel are always on standby to help keep forest and wildfire at bay.
Technosylva provides sophisticated fire behaviour analysis and management software. Joaquin Ramirez Cisneros, Principal Consultant at Technosylva, explains why Globalstar's SPOT Gen3 was chosen to be an integral part of his company's Wildfire Management System: "To keep our crews safe, it is critical to track where the firefighters are at all times, in relation to the engine and equipment resources, and how far away they are from the heart of the fire. Providing these professional teams with the communications and support they need in the extremely dangerous situation of wildfire is an absolute must." Ramirez Cisneros points to the SPOT Gen3's integrated sensors that report when the device is moving, and its ability to be powered by USB as particular major benefits to firefighters.
With SPOT, emergency services can precisely track fire fighting team's location, via a user-friendly display of GPS positions in near real-time via the Technosylva fiResponse™ platform, a wildfire decision support system based in ESRI™ technology. If a firefighter needs help urgently, with the single press of a button, emergency services will be alerted, their GPS coordinates will be transmitted, and their rescue operation be initiated.