Wildfire innovation: technologies and projects protecting forests

Wildfire innovation now combines artificial intelligence, sensors, drones, advanced mapping, meteorological models, early warning systems, digital twins and nature-based solutions. Furthermore, it gives an increasingly important role to local communities, forest managers, emergency services and regional authorities.

Wildfires have become one of Europe’s most complex climate-related risks. Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, changing land use and the expansion of urban areas close to forests are increasing both the frequency and intensity of major fires.

Against this backdrop, the response can no longer focus solely on improving firefighting resources. A new generation of European projects is addressing the entire risk cycle: prevention, prediction, early detection, emergency preparedness, institutional coordination, infrastructure protection and ecosystem recovery.

Europe is moving from a strategy focused mainly on extinguishing fires towards an integrated model that anticipates risk, improves decision-making and strengthens territorial resilience.

What does wildfire innovation mean?

Wildfire innovation covers all solutions capable of reducing the likelihood of a fire, detecting an ignition earlier, anticipating how it will behave or limiting its consequences.

It does not simply involve developing new devices. It also means improving how data is collected and shared, training emergency teams, adapting forest management and coordinating different countries when fires cross administrative borders.

For this reason, the most recent European projects take a multidisciplinary approach. They combine expertise from meteorology, engineering, ecology, data science, artificial intelligence, spatial planning and the social sciences.

This transformation is particularly important in relation to so-called extreme wildfires or megafires. These events can behave in highly unpredictable ways, affect vast areas simultaneously and overwhelm traditional emergency response capacities.

Main wildfire innovation trends

An analysis of the European projects identified several innovation trends that are likely to shape wildfire management over the coming years.

Artificial intelligence and digital twins for wildfire simulation

One of the most advanced trends is the development of digital twins of forest ecosystems. These virtual representations can recreate terrain, vegetation and environmental conditions to simulate how a fire might spread.

The WildfireTwins project is working precisely in this area. Its objective is to develop three-dimensional ecosystem models connected to physical simulations and artificial intelligence-based tools.

Unlike conventional models, a digital twin can represent forest structures in detail and generate real-time wildfire simulations. As a result, firefighting services could compare different scenarios and assess how a fire might evolve under changing wind, humidity or vegetation fuel conditions.

WildfireTwins also plans to generate highly realistic synthetic images and videos. This artificial data can be used to train artificial intelligence systems without relying exclusively on real footage, which is often difficult, expensive and dangerous to obtain.

Digital twins can create virtual environments in which emergency teams and autonomous systems train before facing a real wildfire.

Prediction models for extreme wildfires

Another priority is predicting extreme fire behaviour. The ODET project is developing an open decision-support system that integrates models of fire-atmosphere interaction.

Fire does not only respond to weather conditions. When it reaches very high levels of intensity, it can also alter the local atmosphere, generate strong currents and cause rapid changes in its own spread. This interaction makes emergency response much more difficult.

ODET will combine information from real wildfires, historical databases and virtual scenarios. Using this data, the system will provide forecasts on the potential of a wildfire to develop extreme behaviour.

Moreover, the tool will be designed together with emergency response organisations. This collaboration aims to ensure that scientific models are translated into understandable and practical information for those making operational decisions.

Early detection using drones, sensors and optical surveillance

Early wildfire detection is another area receiving substantial investment. Identifying an ignition during its first few minutes allows teams to respond before the fire reaches an intensity that is difficult to control.

The Co-NatureGuard project plans to deploy several technologies in protected natural areas around the Black Sea. These include thermal drones, mobile observation towers and sensor-based warning systems.

These tools will improve surveillance across more than 75 protected areas. They will also facilitate data exchange between organisations responsible for nature conservation, forest management and emergency response.

Meanwhile, the Wild-A project plans to install automatic detection, warning and extinguishing systems in cross-border areas of Greece and North Macedonia. The initiative includes long-range ground-based optical surveillance, vehicles adapted to difficult terrain, water tankers and improved access roads to forest areas.

The combination of sensors, cameras, drones and automatic systems reflects a clear shift: surveillance technologies are no longer operating in isolation and are beginning to form part of coordinated prevention and response networks.

Advanced mapping of fuel and fire spread

Understanding where combustible vegetation has accumulated is essential for preventing fires and planning forest management interventions.

However, many European regions still use different methods to map risk, classify warning levels or identify priority areas. This lack of consistency becomes particularly problematic in cross-border territories.

The Wildfire CE project will develop cross-border maps of vegetation fuel, fire behaviour and spread potential in Central Europe. It will also create a digital platform containing information on access routes, firefighting resources and priority areas.

This infrastructure will allow authorities, land managers and emergency services to work with a shared understanding of risk. It will also facilitate the integration of data into existing regional and national platforms.

Future wildfire mapping will not only show where risk exists. It will also explain why it exists, how the fire could spread and which resources are available to respond.

Lightning, dry thunderstorms and emerging ignition sources

Climate change is also altering the weather conditions associated with wildfires.

The FIRESKY project analyses lightning-ignited wildfires, particularly those linked to dry thunderstorms. These storms produce electrical activity without enough rainfall to dampen the vegetation.

The initiative will identify the lightning strikes and thunderstorms responsible for different fires and create a database of extreme events. It will then study the conditions that allow a natural ignition to become a major wildfire.

This knowledge can be incorporated into forecasting and detection systems. In remote or mountainous areas, where ground surveillance is more limited, anticipating storms with a high probability of causing ignition could significantly improve preparedness.

Nature-based solutions for wildfire prevention

Digital technology represents only one part of wildfire innovation. European projects are also recovering and updating forest management techniques that reduce the amount and continuity of combustible vegetation.

Prescribed burning, silvopasture and forest management

The MedFireWise project promotes prescribed burning and silvopasture as nature-based solutions for reducing wildfire risk in Mediterranean forests.

Prescribed burning removes combustible vegetation in a controlled way under previously defined weather and operational conditions. Silvopasture, meanwhile, uses grazing animals to control the growth of certain plant species in strategic areas.

MedFireWise will test these practices in seven regions and develop tools to assess where and when they can be applied. It will also analyse regulatory frameworks, design indicators and promote public awareness campaigns.

In parallel, RES2FIRE is working on close-to-nature forestry models. The project will carry out four pilot actions involving fuel treatments and sustainable management of forests and wildland-urban interface areas.

It will also create a WebGIS tool to assess risk, design mitigation measures and support climate adaptation.

These initiatives show that innovation does not necessarily mean replacing traditional forest practices. Instead, it can involve combining them with data, indicators and digital systems that allow them to be applied more precisely.

Wildfire innovation in urban areas and critical infrastructure

The growth of residential areas close to forests is increasing the exposure of homes, roads, power grids and essential services.

These areas are known as wildland-urban interfaces. Within them, a wildfire can quickly move from the natural environment into built-up areas and create particularly complex emergencies.

Protecting critical infrastructure

The RESILFIRE project analyses the resilience of electricity and communication networks in wildfire-prone regions.

The initiative will combine wildfire spread models, real infrastructure data and spatial analyses of social inequality. Its objective is to identify how network failures can affect vulnerable communities in different ways.

Based on this information, RESILFIRE will propose more robust, redundant and flexible infrastructure designs. Keeping communications and electricity supplies operating during an emergency is essential for coordinating evacuations, mobilising resources and ensuring continuity of basic services.

The project will also develop web-based tools and a virtual reality environment to represent different scenarios.

Planning for new civil protection scenarios

FIRE-SCENE addresses three situations that require specific planning: wildfires affecting peri-urban areas, fires affecting tourist destinations and fires affecting protected or recreational natural areas.

The project is working at pilot sites in Spain, Italy and Greece. There, it will develop risk assessment tools and governance models that integrate policy coherence, citizen participation, institutional coordination and funding.

This approach demonstrates that wildfire preparedness must be adapted to the type of territory involved. A tourist resort, a suburban residential area and a natural park all have very different evacuation and protection requirements.

Training and cross-border cooperation

New technologies only create an impact when teams know how to use them and institutions share compatible procedures.

For this reason, firefighter training, joint protocols and cooperation between countries are becoming increasingly important.

The FIRESKILL project will modernise the wildfire training system for Czech firefighters. It will incorporate methods and good practices from Spain, Portugal and France.

The new training programmes will include specialised techniques, drone use, advanced equipment and operational procedures adapted to wildland fires.

Meanwhile, KOMOAL-PREP will develop shared risk assessments, early warning systems and joint response plans between Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania. The initiative will also organise exercises, training activities and campaigns aimed at local communities.

This cooperation is essential because wildfires do not respect borders. In addition, countries with less historical experience of major fires can learn from regions that have spent decades developing specialist expertise.

Towards integrated wildfire management

The European projects analysed reveal a common evolution. Wildfire management is moving from a reactive model towards a continuous system of anticipation, preparedness, response and adaptation.

This new strategy operates across four levels:

Prevention

Vegetation management, silvopasture, prescribed burning and spatial planning reduce the likelihood of a fire reaching extreme intensity.

Prediction

Meteorological models, artificial intelligence and digital twins make it possible to assess how a wildfire could evolve before and during an emergency.

Response

Decision-support platforms, drones, sensors and interoperable systems help mobilise resources more quickly and safely.

Resilience

Infrastructure protection, community participation and ecosystem restoration reduce impacts and accelerate recovery.

The main wildfire innovations in Europe include digital twins, artificial intelligence, fire-atmosphere models, thermal drones, early warning sensors, vegetation fuel mapping, nature-based solutions and cross-border coordination systems.

European funding drives wildfire innovation

The diversity of these projects demonstrates that the European Union supports wildfire innovation through several funding programmes.

Horizon Europe and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions finance scientific research, artificial intelligence, modelling and resilience analysis. Meanwhile, Interreg programmes support cross-border actions, pilot projects and shared tools between regions.

The Union Civil Protection Mechanism also promotes prevention, preparedness, training and interoperability among emergency teams.

This combination of programmes makes it possible to fund everything from high-risk scientific research to operational demonstrations in forests, cities and protected areas.

For technology companies, universities, public bodies and forest managers, opportunities cover fields such as detection systems, geospatial analysis, artificial intelligence, drones, training, infrastructure management and nature-based solutions.

Innovating before the next major wildfire

Wildfires will continue to pose a growing challenge over the coming decades. Nevertheless, Europe is already developing tools capable of improving the way territories prepare and respond.

Wildfire innovation does not depend on a single technology. Its true potential emerges when data, models, forest management, training and institutional cooperation work together.

WildfireTwins, ODET, Wildfire CE, MedFireWise, Co-NatureGuard and FIRESKILL reflect this transformation. Some are developing advanced technological systems, while others are improving ecosystem management or strengthening the capabilities of emergency teams.

Together, these initiatives point towards a more preventive, connected and resilient model. The objective is no longer simply to extinguish the fire, but to understand it, anticipate it and reduce its impact before it becomes a catastrophe.