CeaseFire: a website to assist fire managers in Portugal

Abstract

Climate and weather are major drivers of fire activity in Portugal. We present CeaseFire, a new website designed to provide the user community in Portugal with relevant real-time information on fire activity and meteorological fire danger. CeaseFire aims at linking academia with practice within the fire community at large by providing easily accessible and simple to use products that are customized to specific user needs. Products supplied include the set of indices that integrate the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) System, classes of fire danger, seasonal outlooks, hourly forecasts and information for prescribed burning. The number of registered users of the platform is currently up to 650 users that include forest managers, firemen and civil protection officers, personnel from municipalities, academic researchers and private owners. Received positive feedbacks and suggestions for other products reflect the success of the project. Since its beginning, in March 2016, CeaseFire has been sponsored by The Navigator Company and has the institutional support of the Portuguese Authority for Forests (ICNF).