CWI starts development of statistical framework for prediction of fires

Recently, a project submitted to NWO-TTW's open technology programme by a consortium consisting of researchers from CWI, UT, Thales and the Twente Fire Brigade has been granted.

Publication date
24 Jan 2020

Recently, a project submitted to NWO-TTW's open technology programme by a consortium consisting of researchers from CWI, UT, Thales and the Twente Fire Brigade has been granted. The project is entitled "Data driven risk management for fire services" and will be led by CWI's Marie-Colette van Lieshout.

It aims to develop a flexible hierarchical statistical framework for the analysis and prediction of various types of fires. It will deliver a model for spatio-temporal inference (including monitoring, filtering and prediction) that is able to recognize patterns in historic data and convert these to a prediction. This is realized by applying Bayesian techniques to carry out simultaneous state and parameter estimation. The results can be used for both repression and prevention purposes, including improving vehicle and personnel planning in the fire stations, informing the right people at the right time and evaluating the effectivity of public awareness campaigns.

The Open Technology Programme is open to excellent research aimed at the possible implementation of the results. The programme offers companies and other organisations an easily accessible way of becoming involved in scientific research that leads to usable knowledge.

The granted personnel consists of a PhD and a PDEng student.

The consortium consists of:

  • CWI -Marie-Colette van Lieshout (project leader)
  • Guido Legemaate (member user committee on behalf of Veiligheidsregio Amstelland)
  • Twente University - Richard Boucherie (adjunct project leader)
  • Thales - Maurits de Graaf
  • Twente Fire Brigade - Ron de Wit

User committee

  • Twente Fire Brigade
  • Fire Brigade the Netherlands
  • NIPV (Institute for Physical Safety)
  • Police Amsterdam
  • Police Enschede
  • Veiligheidsregio Amstelland

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