Infoca to fight wildfires in Andalucía this year with AI and drones

This year, Plan Infoca (the Junta's forest fire brigade) is boosting its uptake in technology by bringing in artificial intelligence (AI) to manage the drones that will be deployed when needed to help fight forest fires in Andalucía. This news comes right at the start of the season when the risk of wildfires is at its maximum and is set to last until October.

Infoca plans to develop AI communication protocols so that its drones, both terrestrial and aerial, become fundamental support tools in fighting forest fires.

This innovation is part of the EU-funded project Hurricane and will enable those overseeing the firefighting to have information at the command post without the need to access the areas affected and without risking the lives of its people on the ground. In brief, it will help decision-making for better management of the emergency as it plays out. In addition, two drones will be available for monitoring night-time fires where visibility is impossible.

The Junta de Andalucía will also activate another new feature this year: the 'plataforma de la ciudadanía' is a website that will allow real-time monitoring of information on forest fires and will also publish a daily update of the forest fire risk index by zone.

Infoca's budget allocation is the largest ever and has grown by 5.8% this year (14 million euros more), rising from 243 millions in 2024 to 257 million euros this year. Of this amount, 111 million euros (43.2%) are earmarked for extinguishing fires and the remaining 146 millions (56.8%) are destined for fire-prevention work.

The operation is staffed by 4,700 professionals whose work is accompanied by an extensive material and technological resources operation. So, Plan Infoca has 119 heavy-duty firefighting vehicles, of which 11 are water-supply trucks and 108 are fire engines. It also has 1,011 vehicles for transporting personnel, as well as eight mobile meteorology and transmissions units and a truck for transporting the advanced command post, together with a tactical truck that is also equipped with a terrestrial drone.

Added to the above are three mobile, wildfire monitoring and analysis units to support aerial coordination and monitoring of large fires.

This year's operations will also have 40 aerial resources available, 36 of them from the Junta, comprising 23 helicopters and 13 planes, plus an Enresa helicopter and three state-funded planes, two helicopters and an amphibious aircraft.

This year, the plan is undertaking a comprehensive renewal of the aforementioned resources with the addition of 11 new, heavy-duty fire engines and three snow ploughs, plus the acquisition of a total of 44 vehicles. Plan Infoca has so far renewed 75% of the fire engine fleet and also the entire personnel transport fleet, with 282 new vehicles in the last four years.

Finally, this year the two new Cedefo centres (forest defence centres) of El Pedroso (Seville) and Hernán-Valle (Granada) have come into operation and those of Algodonales and Istán-Marbella are under construction.