The FORFAIT project sets out to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) in order to assist planners, regulators and industries in optimising the forest fire 
risks management. This system consists of three different kinds of applications:

• planning of fire prevention actions;
• coordination of personnel training activities; 
• simulation of critical stages.

FORFAIT is based on the integration of various information sources, such as satellite downlink, meteorological data, state-of-the-art predictive models, or 
involved professionals expertise and knowledge. Any decision process will be aided by a support system based on fuzzy logic to suggest the most appropriate course of action; also a probabilistic framework, which will take account of uncertainty in the parameters, will help.

Project goals:

• To help protection of national resources as well as improvements in safety in case of forest fires.

• To integrate both established and new technologies, including electronic data gathering, in order to design and build a Decision Support System to be used 
as a tool in planning, educational, regulatory and business contexts.

The project lifetime, which spans a period of 30 months, consists of four key phases:

• Specification: Production of software development specifications, software and hardware requirements, and functional elements of FORFAIT design.

• Implementation: Implementation of a pilot version via website, with feedback from interested groups.

• Application: Application of FORFAIT to real world trial sites followed by a peer review.

• Dissemination: Dissemination and exploitation of system.

FORFAIT project has been developed under the CEC IST programme, involving six European companies, including Planetek Italia, and bringing together partners with specialist skills in areas such as:

• Risk Management and Assessment;

• Logic Programming (Fuzzy logic);

• Earth Observation and Satellite Image Processing;

• Fire Propagation Modelling;

• Geographical Information Systems;

• Forest Fire Expertise and Knowledge.