The growing frequency of floods, wildfires, and heatwaves is forcing both municipalities and businesses to adopt more sophisticated tools to protect people, safeguard infrastructure, and ensure business continuity. In this context, the digitalization of emergency plans has become an essential step. It goes far beyond simply converting a document into digital format: it transforms the plan into a living, dynamic, and fully operational system.

Before embarking on digitalization, it is crucial to update the content of the plan: review risk scenarios, assign responsibilities, identify critical infrastructure, and ensure compliance with current regulations. Only then can technology deliver its full potential.

• Instant, real-time access from any device for all stakeholders.
• Automated protocols that significantly reduce response times.
• Seamless coordination between police, firefighters, company brigades, civil protection, and local authorities.
• Direct alerts to residents, employees, or customers, strengthening the culture of prevention.
• Automatic records and reports for post-incident evaluation and safety audits.
• Greater transparency and trust in both public management and private sector safety practices.

These benefits apply equally to a city council managing local emergencies and to an industrial, energy, logistics, or agri-food company, where safety and business continuity are vital.

The NOE platform pioneered digital emergency plans in Pamplona, now evolved into a multi-risk system.

In Spain, one of the most notable examples is Pamplona, where Tesicnor developed the NOE platform to manage the municipal flood plan. This tool proved how a digitalized plan can dramatically improve reaction speed and coordination between municipal police, civil protection, and intervention brigades.

NOE later became the precursor to today’s multi-risk platform, which expands its scope by integrating new prevention and response modules for heat stress, lightning, and wildfires. Thanks to this evolution, municipalities —and companies operating in high-risk sectors— now have a single, centralized environment to manage multiple threats in a coordinated, real-time manner.

The next challenge lies in forest fire management. After the devastating wildfires this past summer, Tesicnor launched the digitalization of PAMIF (municipal action plan against forest fires). This process includes digital evacuation protocols, real-time coordination between brigades and firefighters, citizen alerts, and predictive models based on meteorological data.

In parallel, the Alert-Fire project, developed by Tesicnor and the Therrae group of the Public University of Navarre (UPNA), is building an advanced wildfire risk alert system. Funded by the CDTI and co-financed by FEDER 2021–2027 with support of €166,165.91, the system integrates satellite imagery, ground data, and artificial intelligence to generate detailed risk maps that strengthen prevention and response at the local level.

European initiatives: innovation serving prevention

The digitalization of emergency plans is not an isolated effort. Europe is already leading the way with large-scale, continent-wide initiatives that highlight the power of technology in risk management:

• The European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) provides flood forecasts up to ten days in advance, delivering up to €400 in benefits for every euro invested.
• EFFIS (European Forest Fire Information System) monitors wildfires in real time across Europe.
• The Destination Earth (DestinE) project is creating a digital twin of the Earth to anticipate climate crises.
• The upcoming EUCCS network will ensure secure critical communications for European emergency services.

Yet while these continental-scale initiatives are invaluable for reinforcing global vision and international coordination, effective emergency management also depends on locally developed tools that adapt to the unique characteristics of each municipality, company, or territory. Large-scale systems only achieve real impact when translated into concrete, operational protocols on the ground.

The economic evidence is compelling: reports from the World Bank and the European Commission show that investments in resilience deliver returns of 2 to 10 times their cost. In the U.S., studies estimate that every dollar invested in prevention saves up to $13 in avoided damages and losses (uschamber).

Digitalizing an emergency plan —once it has been properly updated— transforms it from a static document into a living, preventive, and operational system.

With pioneering examples such as Pamplona and the evolution of NOE, today’s multi-risk platform, advanced projects like Alert-Fire, and the support of European initiatives, we are shaping municipalities and companies that are safer, better prepared, and more resilient in the face of future challenges.

At Tesicnor, we help public and private organizations update and digitalize their emergency plans. If you are ready to take the next step toward digital prevention, contact us —we’ll help prepare your organization for tomorrow.