The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR’s) Meraka Institute has been tasked by the National Technology Center of the Angolan Ministry of Technology to apply South African-developed technology to detect fires in the African country.

The parties signed a memorandum of understanding that would see the Meraka Institute implement its satellite-based Advanced Fire Information System (Afis) in the fire-prone Southern African country.

The real-time wildfire detection, monitoring and alerting system, using satellite sensors and imaging, would enable the Angolan government to tackle the high incidence of fires.

Afis, which alerts infrastructure owners, land managers, disaster management and fire protection personnel to fires in their areas, scans for small fires over 50 m2, six times within a 24-hour period, and larger fires, between 5 ha and 10 ha, every 15 minutes, said CSIR Meraka Institute information and communication technology manager Lee Annamalai.

Capacity development in geospatial systems and research into fire danger forecasting and burn area assessment would also be undertaken as part of the implementation project.

Engineering News previously reported that, in South Africa, Afis was currently used by 40 fire protection associations and by a number of other institutions, including State-owned power utility Eskom.

Eskom provided the main funding for the development of Afis, owing to the possibility of wildfires underneath power lines causing flashovers, which severely affect electricity supply.

Annamalai said negotiations to implement Afis in several other countries were advancing, with the system in pilot operations in Chile, Croatia, the US and all the Southern African Development Community countries.

The research council was also working with Kenya for the installation of its own reception station that would cover the East African region. This was expected to be completed by year-end.