In 2017, the Instituto de Telecomunicações, answering a request by the Minister of Science, put up a group focused on finding the reasons for the communications failures during the catastrophic fires that occurred in Portugal at that time. This working group, which included representatives of the Secretary of State for Internal Affairs studied in detail the limitations of the existing work, not only concerning communications equipment and emergency power supplies but also network manpower, organization, management, and training to enable SIRESP to provide reliable, resilient emergency communications throughout Portugal (mainland) Azores and Madeira.
To this end, the existing SIRESP network and the corresponding operational context were carefully analysed, and IT researchers carried out a careful analysis and suggested modifications (and subsequently implemented) to increase its resilience. Moreover, a series of recommendations, from which a book chapter was born, were integrated into the book “Fire Safety Engineering - Measures, Policies, and Applications”, edited by Chiara Bedon (University of Trieste, Italy), co-authored by Carlos Salema and Rafael Caldeirinha, entitled “Perspective Chapter: Mobile Radio Emergency Communications for Large-Scale Wildfire Fighting – Portugal as a Case Study.”
This chapter explores the critical role of voice push-to-talk terrestrial mobile radio emergency communications in supporting firefighters in disaster relief operations. Discusses the operational context and challenges, innovative solutions, and future trends in communication technologies for enhancing operational effectiveness and public safety. Each section provides insights and practical recommendations for improving emergency communication systems in firefighting and disaster relief operations, particularly large-scale wildfire fighting, using Portugal as a case study. Mention will be given to deployment strategies and real-world applications of land-mobile radio in emergency communications, including propagation studies on the effects of wildfires in radio communications recently conducted by the authors.
About this project: https://www.it.pt/Projects/Index/4620
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