Wildfires in Athens, East Attica. A pilot implementation on the WRF-SFIRE forecasting system stimulates the spread of the deadly fire on 23. July 2018.
The video shows the evolution of the lethal fire in East Attica, as predicted by the WRF-SFIRE forecasting system of the National Observatory of Athens.
It also shows the evolution of wind direction and speed during the fire.
The fire started in Daou on Penteli Mountain and spread through the settlement of Neos Voutzas to Mati, the area with the most dead.
Implementation of WRF-SFIRE took place a posteriori as major changes to the operation of the system had taken place in order to be able to respond to the specifics of the particular fire.
In particular, the particular morphology of the area, which is characterized by the presence of dense vegetation in an area with residential land use, has been taken into account.
The results of the pilot application of the prognostic system are encouraging since the rapid spread of the fire front was simulated with a relatively short delay of 30-45 minutes, and the final extent of the affected area is in good agreement with the data obtained from the EU Copernicus system.
The pilot implementation of WRF-SFIRE for the fire of East Attica but also for Kineta – West Attica on the same day proves that this predictive system can be a potentially powerful tool for a more effective fire fighting in Greece.
To this end, NCA cooperates with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA) to optimize the operation of WRF-SFIRE and its adaptation to the Mediterranean environment of Greece.
Beyond the fire-fighting stage, WRF-SFIRE can also be used as a preventive tool, contributing to the design of fire-fighting strategies. In particular, the predictive system can be used as a platform for performing hypothetical fire scenarios.
For example, when the fire risk in a region is high, then WRF-SFIRE can be applied a priori to give the prognosis of spreading to the hypothetical scenario of a fire occurrence.
In addition, WRF-SFIRE can be applied to a high-risk fire area to provide a first estimate of the propagation velocity and the intensity of a fire. In this way, the competent bodies and departments may have an answer beforehand to the question of “how difficult would a fire be if it was manifested in that region?”.
read also → Arson linked to death of 86 people in Mati, East Attica
The development of the WRF-SFIRE forecasting system takes place in the framework of the interregional research project INTERREG-BALKAN-MEDITERRANEAN 2014-2020-DISARM (Drought and fIre obServatory and eArly waRning systeM), with the participation of Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria. via meteo.gr
