Between 15 and 19 September 2024, Portugal faced an Alert Situation due to extremely adverse weather conditions, marked by high temperatures and dry weather, which increased the risk and number of rural fires in mainland Portugal. During this period, 1,615 ignitions were recorded on the website fogos.pt, which obtains its data via the API of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), with a peak of 451 ignitions on 17 October 2024.
The total burnt area resulting from these fires is not yet official, but it will exceed 100,000ha.
In response, on 16 September VOST Portugal activated its emergency operation to monitor and communicate critical information to the population.
During this activation, VOST’s priority was to collect and validate data on mobility restrictions and the evolution of the fires, disseminating useful information once it had been validated and verified. The first relevant communication was posted on social media at 8.36am on the 16th, informing people that the A1 motorway, one of the country’s main roads, had been closed.
Over the course of five days, more than 60 updates were shared, with a special focus on Telegram and X/Twitter. The communication also included summaries of ANEPC press conferences. This work aimed to provide information in real time, in an accessible way, to those who needed to know about the mobility restrictions and the state of play.
Statistics and Reach
– VOST Portugal on Facebook: 85,763 users reached.
– Fogos.pt on Facebook: 677,577 users reached.
– VOST Portugal on Instagram: 21,153 users reached.
– X/Twitter (VOST Portugal): 1.2 million users reached, with 2,400 new followers.
– Telegram: 5% growth in followers for the VOST Portugal channel and 23% for the Fogos.pt channel, with peaks in views on 16 and 17 September.
Fogos.pt App and Website
Once again, the Fogos.pt app and website have been a reference point for anyone wanting information on the fires that have affected our country, and the usage figures are a sign of that.
For the period between 15 September and 19 September 2024, this is the data:
- Server Information Requests: 542.17M
- Data transferred: 11.4TB
- Site visits: 11.8M
- API requests: 194.66M
Once again, we would like to thank PTSERVIDOR, MAPBOX and CLOUDFLARE for supporting us with the infrastructure and products that make this information possible.
Observations and points for improvement
During the activation, we identified some areas that could be improved for future emergency situations:
- Pinning important messages to Telegram to facilitate access to the most relevant information.
- Study of a possible partnership with Waze to improve the speed and accuracy of publicising traffic restrictions in real time.
- Improving the coordination of publications between different social networks, ensuring greater uniformity across platforms, including channels such as Mastodon and BluSky. To this end, VOST Portugal will develop an open source solution from scratch that will allow its volunteers to disseminate messages to all networks where the use of an API is permitted, via their own unique interface.
VOST Europe will continue to evaluate its operations and look for ways to optimise the response to the needs of the population in critical situations, always relying on official data and the feedback we receive from the entire community to ensure more effective communication.