The National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) of Chile has expanded its cooperation with the European Union (EU) after presenting Chile’s forest fire monitoring technologies in Brussels.
CONAF’s Executive Director Rodrigo Illesca led the delegation during a technical visit to the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC), part of the Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) of the European Commission.
According to CONAF, the purpose of the visit was to strengthen international technical cooperation and share national tools used for wildfire monitoring, analysis and evaluation.
Rodrigo Illesca, Executive Director of CONAF, said: “This visit strengthens cooperation between Chile and the European Union, allowing us to better understand how the cooperation mechanism operates and how scenarios are analyzed in emergencies.
“It allows us to share how science and technology are strengthening our forest fire management, integrating us into global observation and analysis networks.”
The session was led by Héctor Alfaro Fernández from the Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, who described how the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) coordinates emergency response across participating nations.
He outlined three main levels of response: national capacities provided by individual member states, the European Civil Protection Pool (ECPP) that certifies modules under shared standards and the rescEU fleet of air and ground resources funded by the European Commission.
Alfaro explained that rescEU was created following the 2017 fires in Portugal to guarantee a minimum continental response capability.
He highlighted Chile’s involvement in UCPM deployments in 2017, 2023 and 2024, which included direct collaboration with EU modules and operational communication with ERCC duty officers during emergencies.
Alfaro said: “The final decision always rests with the affected country. No resources are deployed without the explicit acceptance of the requesting country.”
He added that activating the mechanism simultaneously alerts 37 participating states, including 27 EU members and 10 associated nations.
CONAF presented its Geoportal of Tools to Support the Management and Monitoring of Forest Fires, which consolidates the organization’s main technological systems into three modules.
The prevention module includes risk forecasting, Red Button alerts, EVI anomaly tracking and urban-forest interface risk assessments.
The monitoring module provides live fire reports, PYROCAST meteograms, FIRMS-NASA data points and an aerial resource tracking panel.
The evaluation module features Potential Fire Polygons (PPIF), GOES-16 satellite reconstructions and Extreme Weather Event (EWE) analysis.
CONAF stated that these systems enhance evidence-based decision-making and planning for managing extreme wildfire behavior.
Andrés Benedetto, Forest Fire Protection Manager at CONAF, said: “The European Union Civil Protection Mechanism is a benchmark for interoperability and efficiency.
“Chile has participated in the 2017, 2023 and 2024 deployments, and CONAF will continue to contribute through technical cooperation and the exchange of operational capabilities.”
The collaboration between CONAF and the EU is relevant for wildfire and emergency response agencies focused on interoperability, shared resource deployment and cross-border coordination.
The ERCC and UCPM model described during the meeting illustrates structured multilevel response mechanisms, including national resources, pooled assets and the EU-funded rescEU fleet.
For emergency planners, understanding this framework supports improved coordination in future international deployments.
The Chilean Geoportal of Tools, with modules for prevention, monitoring and evaluation, also provides a reference model for data integration in wildfire risk management.
Professionals responsible for policy, technology development or operational planning in fire management can apply insights from this cooperation to enhance regional readiness and evidence-based decision-making.
