This year, the State Forest Service began implementing a pilot project for the introduction of a remote fire detection and monitoring system. Surveillance cameras capable of identifying smoke from up to 15 km away, while pinpointing location coordinates, were installed on 12 fire observation towers.

Forest fire safety supervision and the detection, containment and extinguishing of forest fires are among the public functions of the State Forest Service (VMD). Forest fire protection is organised to detect and contain forest fires as quickly as possible in all forests, regardless of the type of ownership or tenure. To successfully carry out this task, a network of forest fire observation towers and forest fire stations has been established across the entire territory of Latvia.

Attempts to introduce a remote forest fire detection and monitoring system were made as early as the beginning of the 21st century, although the expected results were not achieved at that time. The idea for a pilot project to introduce such a system re-emerged among VMD experts in 2017.

With financial support from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, a procurement process was announced for the implementation of a remote fire detection and monitoring system. The contract for the creation, installation and maintenance of the system was awarded to the company SIA “DATI Group” through the competitive tender process.

This year was the first fire danger season in which the remote fire detection and monitoring system was operational. Surveillance cameras capable of identifying smoke from up to 15 km away, while pinpointing location coordinates, were installed on 12 fire observation towers in the VMD Riga Regional Forestry Office.

The main objective of the system is a faster and more accurate identification of fire locations, which will reduce the area of forest burned. Information received from the towers is analysed at the system's operational control centre at the Inčukalns forest fire station.

“This is the first year of the pilot project; the new system has been constantly tested and checked under ‘combat’ conditions, and the fire detection algorithm has been refined. Since its launch this spring in the Pierīga region, the system has been the first to detect more than 20 forest fires and has proven itself to be quite effective in the field of fire detection. The introduction of such a system is a novelty not only in the history of the VMD, but also on the scale of Latvian forestry. The VMD looks to the near future with optimism and hopes to install the monitoring system in other parts of Latvia as well. Its implementation nationwide will ensure the significant preservation of forest resources in the future,” says Normunds Jurkāns, Deputy Director General of the VMD.

The VMD will implement the pilot project “Implementation of a remote fire detection and monitoring system” until March 2026, with a total contract value of 1,153,762.84 euros.