On March 31, another summer season of O-PAIF came to an end, with the demobilization of the response with Heliborne Brigades and fighter jets.

Regardless of this fact, monitoring continues through cameras that cover 74% of the protected properties, and the management of reported outbreaks (with notification and follow-up), from the Monitoring and Dispatch Center (CMD) located in Durazno.

It was a summer completely different from previous ones, with a significant proportion of days with zero or slight risk, which, although they did not produce a reduction in the smoke detected, did impact the number of dispatches and hours dedicated to combating it, which had a drastic drop when compared to the two previous summers, and even to the average of the 10 seasons with national coverage.

In that sense, and only referring to the previous season and the air assets, there was a drop to a third in the number of dispatches, to an eighth in terms of combat hours and less than half the time spent in each field operation.

Even more drastic was the reduction of the burned area, with 15.4 hectares of protected land affected, while less than 5 hectares of plantations suffered any damage from fire.

The major milestones of the season were the expansion to 60 of the number of detection cameras, and the change in the management of the CMD, including a reconfiguration of it that allowed the increase of workstations, improvements in equipment and network work, both internal and remote access.

There were adjustments to the work and dispatch protocols, as well as an update to the software that unites cartographic, climatic and risk information on a single platform, with the availability of both common and company resources, which can be dispatched to address hotspots.

More than 120 people of 3 nationalities, including DNB staff, are collaborating to prevent fires from affecting the forests of the more than 100 companies that spend more than USD 4,600,000, in pursuit of that goal.

Additionally, last season, an investment of more than USD 1,000,000 was needed to install support infrastructure for cameras and communication equipment.

In the previous summer (much more severe), the cost was similar, which shows that it is necessary to prepare for the worst circumstances, and that, after the hot season has begun, there is little flexibility to either reduce or increase resources.

An evaluation phase of the past campaign began in April, involving all stakeholders, with the aim of improving and adjusting the response for the next season, in the three main areas of action: prevention, detection and combat.