PROJECTS

SCOPE

In Portugal, the allocation of technical, human and financial resources to the fire brigades in charge of the urban fire response, despite considering the existing risk in an urban area and the rapid response, it is also motivated by the local population's willingness to have a satisfactory response in the case of an accident, and by the dynamics and culture of each one of the communities. These reasons have compelled to a large number of fire brigades in regions with more population (that are implicitly areas of a greater number of accidents). However, the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (in Portuguese named Autoridade Nacional Emergência e Proteção Civil - ANEPC) considers that this distribution of resources does not guarantee an efficient and equitable intervention throughout the country or a timely response to those living in areas with lower demographics. While the public funding of fire brigades is only a part of the total corporate budget (the percentage varies considerably by the corporation), prudent management of public and private financial resources should be made. This raises the research question that this AI-4-MUFF project intends to answer. "How to ensure effective preparedness to fight urban fires by making efficient use of human resources (fire-fighters), fire-fighting equipment, and financial resources?"

MAIN OBJECTIVE

The main objective of AI-4-MUFF is to develop a decision support tool to support ANEPC decision-makers and local fire brigades to make more technically and comprehensive decisions, but also to contemplate the policy component of the decision considering the communities and municipalities contexts.

SEE FCT INFORMATION