Beth Evans, Chief Operating Officer, Excelerate Group, explains why connected resilience must become a national priority.
Wildfires are no longer a challenge confined to southern Europe or distant regions prone to extreme temperatures.
Across the UK and Europe, fire services, infrastructure operators and government agencies are facing a new reality: wildfires are becoming more frequent, more complex and more disruptive.
As climate conditions continue to evolve, organisations responsible for critical services must prepare for a future where extreme environmental events are not the exception but an increasingly regular operational challenge.
While much of the public conversation focuses understandably on suppression and containment, there is another challenge that receives far less attention.
How do organisations continue operating when the infrastructure they depend on becomes compromised?
For emergency responders, utility providers, transport operators, telecommunications companies and local authorities, the answer increasingly comes down to resilience of communications and access to real-time information.
Connectivity Becomes Most Important When It Is Most Vulnerable
Every major incident is ultimately an information management challenge. Fire crews require real-time intelligence from the frontline. Command teams need visibility of personnel and assets.
Utility operators need immediate awareness of infrastructure impacts. Public authorities must communicate rapidly with affected communities. All of this depends upon reliable connectivity.
Yet wildfires frequently occur in environments where communications are most vulnerable. Power can be disrupted. Mobile networks may become congested. Existing coverage limitations can be exposed. Access routes can be restricted, preventing the deployment of conventional infrastructure.
The consequence is simple: when organisations most need information, access to that information can become significantly more difficult. This creates a resilience gap that must be addressed long before an incident occurs.
A new approach to Operational Resilience
Historically, communications strategies have often focused on availability during normal operating conditions. Today’s risk landscape requires a different mindset.
Organisations need to ask what happens when traditional networks are unavailable altogether.
This is why hybrid and deployable communications technologies are becoming increasingly important within resilience planning. By combining terrestrial and satellite connectivity, organisations can create communications architectures that continue operating even when elements of conventional infrastructure are disrupted.
The objective is no longer simply to protect the network. It is to ensure critical services remain connected regardless of what happens to the network.
Situational Awareness is the next frontier
Resilience is not only about maintaining voice communications. Modern emergency operations rely on a growing volume of live operational data, including video feeds, asset tracking, drone imagery, mapping systems and environmental monitoring.
When this information can be gathered and shared effectively, multiple agencies gain access to a common operational picture. This improves coordination, accelerates decision-making and enhances safety for teams operating in dynamic and often hazardous environments.
Across both the public and private sectors, there is growing recognition that communications should not be viewed solely as an IT function. They have become an operational capability that directly influences organisational effectiveness during major incidents.
Wildfire resilience is Business Resilience
Wildfires affect far more than emergency services. Transport systems, utilities, energy networks, agriculture, tourism, supply chains and telecommunications infrastructure can all experience significant disruption.
For organisations operating critical infrastructure, wildfire preparedness should therefore be viewed through the broader lens of operational continuity.
Questions leaders should be asking include:
• How resilient are our communications systems?
• What happens if a site loses conventional connectivity?
• Can we deploy communications rapidly to affected locations?
• Do decision-makers have access to reliable information during an evolving incident?
• Have we tested our plans under realistic operating conditions?
The answers increasingly determine an organisation’s ability to maintain services when unforeseen events occur.
Turning Innovation into Preparedness
One encouraging development is the growing availability of funding and support for innovative resilience technologies across the UK and Europe.
Governments and agencies increasingly recognise the importance of solutions that enhance emergency response capabilities, improve situational awareness and strengthen infrastructure resilience.
This presents an opportunity for collaboration between technology providers, emergency services, infrastructure operators, policymakers and research organisations.
The challenge ahead is not simply developing new technologies. It is ensuring those technologies can be integrated effectively into operational environments and trusted when they are needed most.
Preparing for What Comes Next
No organisation can predict precisely where the next major wildfire will occur. What organisations can do, however, is ensure they are prepared to remain operational when it does.
Resilience is ultimately about adaptability. When conditions change, communications must continue. When infrastructure is disrupted, information must still flow.
When decisions need to be made, leaders must have confidence that they can access the intelligence required. In a world facing more frequent environmental disruption, connected resilience is becoming a strategic necessity.
The organisations that invest in it today will be significantly better prepared for the challenges of tomorrow.
Beth Evans is Chief Operating Officer at Excelerate Group, a specialist provider of deployable communications, resilient connectivity and situational awareness solutions supporting emergency services, defence, critical infrastructure and public sector organisations.
