In line with FIREPRIME’s objective of creating well-informed and well-prepared communities in response to the increasing intensity and magnitude of wildfires in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), and to facilitate the actions of civil protection services during emergencies, the development of a mobile application (app) to assess the vulnerability of homes in the WUI is a key tool to help homeowners adapt their homes to wildfire risk.
The research group GESSI from UPC is developing the application with a user-centered approach. The goal is to create an app with a simple, highly intuitive, and user-friendly interface for non-expert users, available in multiple languages. Additionally, it will be accessible from anywhere in the world and can be used without an internet connection, thanks to its ability to synchronize data automatically once the connection is restored.
Regarding the app’s content and functionality, users must first register their property. From there, a questionnaire helps identify building and environmental elements that will be used to calculate the wildfire risk of each structure. Elements to be identified include construction materials (such as types of windows and roofing), ventilation, the presence of sealed compartments, and the type of perimeter enclosure (such as wooden fences or vegetation). Finally, once the building’s risk or vulnerability level is determined, users will have access to improvement solutions that they can implement to reduce their property’s vulnerability and make necessary adaptive changes to mitigate wildfire risk. They can recalculate their home vulnerability by just introducing the recommended improvements and seeing how these changes can reduce their home's vulnerability to wildfires.
Current development efforts are focused on integrating the vulnerability assessment results from the questionnaires with updated fire risk data in the area based on weather conditions. This enhancement aims to provide a holistic view of the fire risk to the homeowners. Later on, the app will be evaluated in the pilot tests of the FIREPRIME project.
The app will be multiplatform and available on Google Play and Apple Store for mobile devices. Additionally, the project plans to create a website that will host all project resources and provide access to the app.