New European wildfire data from the company AiDash predicts the top five areas in Spain, France and Italy that are most at risk of wildfires this summer (2023). AiDash’s Disaster and Disruption Management System (DDMS) can forecast the likelihood of a wildfire occurring in these areas and help mitigate the risk of damage to local communities.
Back in 2021, a wildfire near Saint-Tropez displaced 10,000 people (locals and tourists alike) and necessitated the deployment of 1,200 firefighters, causing chaos as a consequence. As the battle against climate change induced extreme weather intensifies, it becomes increasingly important that tourists are aware of wildfire risk.
The AI technology that forms part of the AiDash platform monitors vast areas of vegetation using extensive satellite imagery and cutting-edge models to identify areas at risk of wildfire. These predictions come from AiDash’s proprietary predictive model that uses more than 20 parameters, including static factors such as topography (aspect, slope, and elevation), and dynamic factors like meteorological data (precipitation, wind speed, humidity, temperature), as well as other data sources like powerline and road networks, WUI tiers, and vegetation health.
The breakthrough in connecting AI and satellite technology to identify risk areas enables authorities to attempt to mitigate the negative impact. This is in keeping with calls for local authorities to adopt new technologies, especially during peak summer months. The technology detects the most effective locations for preventative firebreaks and assists in the deployment of firefighting resources by isolating critical hotspots and simulating restoration based on resources, cost, and time with automatic, prioritized work assignments.
In terms of the outcome of the analysis, the top five summer wildfire areas in Spain, France, Italy are:
| Spain | France | Italy |
| Córdoba | Gard | Catania |
| Barcelona | Hérault | Bari |
| Valencia | Alpes-Maritimes | Asti |
| Castellón | Vaucluse | Savona |
| Huelva | Var | Cagliari |
Many of these at-risk regions include forested areas containing rural villages, where locals are the primary victims. For instance, a recent wildfire in Castellón led to the evacuation of ten rural towns and threatened to spread to one of the region’s eight natural parks containing threatened species such as the Iberian Ibex and wildcat. These remote areas often contain large amounts of vegetation that, when dried out from extreme heat and low humidity winds, acts as the potent fuel for fires.
