Best early detection system for forest fires.. with 20 years of experience

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of IQ FireWatch in real operation, we were invited to reflect on this pioneering work and highlight the achievements. The event was hosted by Axel Vogel, Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Climate Protection of Brandenburg, and Raimund Engel, Head of Forest Fire Protection of Brandenburg.

We are proud to continue to protect the forests of Brandenburg with state-of-the-art technology.

2022: Another record year

In the 20 years of history of automated early detection of forest fires in Brandenburg, the second year with the highest number of forest fires, after the record year 2003, occurred in 2022 with more than 500 forest fires. According to the statistics on forest fires in Brandenburg from the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Climate Protection (MLUK), only nine of these fires were larger than 10 ha/25 acres (1.8 %), and only four of them were larger than 100 ha/250 acres (0.8 %).

These selected fires, as well as the recent major fires in Jüterbog (Brandenburg) and Lübtheen (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), were detected early by IQ FireWatch. The extensive spread of the fires is due to areas contaminated by munitions, where ground fire-fighting operations can only be carried out to a very limited extent due to the high risk.

Although each fire represents a great danger, it can be said that the entire chain of operations ranging from forest fire prevention to fire fighting, with early detection as the backbone, is very well developed in Brandenburg, and many regions of the world exposed to forest fires look to Brandenburg as a model, quite rightly.

During a visit to Argentina

Our CEO, Dr. Kurt Winter, and the sales director, Thomas Fiessler, visited our Argentine partner to see the IQ FireWatch systems installed two years ago and discuss future development plans.

They had the honor of meeting the Deputy Minister of the Environment and the Economic Attaché, as well as the Secretary of State for the Economy, Matías Tombolini. A visit to the observation towers in the Paraná Delta was also on the agenda. The systems already installed protect the Predelta National Park and other areas along the Paraná River.

We are pleased to be able to contribute valuable input to the implementation of the Argentine fire protection concept through other IQ FireWatch systems.

IQ FireWatch turns out to be an excellent system for early detection of forest fires.

During this year’s fire season, Canada is already facing huge wildfires that cause significant disruptions beyond its borders, as shown by the example of New York.

Until now, forest fire monitoring in Canada was a human endeavor. In response to growing challenges, an international comparison of early forest fire detection systems through terrestrial observation took place last year, in which IQ FireWatch participated. The comparison was accompanied by on-site scientific support.

In the essential area for the real operation of IQ FireWatch, the detection of real forest fires, we were able to clearly distinguish ourselves from other system providers with nearly twice as many successful detections. IQ FireWatch was also able to show all its potential in terms of detection and localization accuracy, with the lowest average deviation. We are very proud of this achievement and will use this knowledge to further develop IQ FireWatch.