Besides the real-time positioning of the firefighting forces, users can
ask for the closest fire suppression items such as water tanks from any
spot on the case study area. Virtual Fire supports “closest route” queries
regarding the location of closest water tanks, fire hydrants and pumping
stations taking into account the fire area and its potential expansion. It
also supports the analysis of the shortest distance among locations on
the map and finding the drive time distances from a location. End
users simply specify the ignition point of the fire and send their request
to the platform. After the task execution, the system graphically displays
the 3 shortest routes to the item requested. For each route, the
system informs about the distance and the approximate time to reach
the item from any location (e.g. a firefighter and/or the fire ignition
point).
Virtual Fire provides effective communication between users and
administrators for reporting events through live GeoRSS feeds and
e-mail messages. Users can add a new wildfire event by completing
a description form and then, specify its relative ignition position and
estimated intensity. After the submission of the new event, the system
automatically receives its data and displays the corresponding
spot. When the fire has been put out, administrators of the system
can remove the RSS feed and the corresponding fire spot from the
graphical interface.