‘Open Decision-Making System for Enhancing Europe’s Preparedness and Response Capacities to ExTreme Wildfires’
The risk of larger and more extreme events such as wildfires (Extreme Wildfire Events, EWEs) is increasing across Europe, posing a significant threat to society, the environment and the safety of firefighters. The preparation and capacity building for EWEs is extremely challenging, especially for organisations that have not yet been exposed, or have had limited exposure, to those events. The ODET project represents a vital step in improving EWE understanding by strategically providing empirical data from ongoing fires, advanced research, and innovative and user-centred tools that bridge the gap between knowledge and effective emergency response. The novel system proposes forecasts of the potential of a wildfire to develop extreme fire behaviour.
To achieve that, innovative fire-atmosphere models are integrated to analyse a comprehensive database of past and virtual wildfires. Emergency response organisations feed the system with wildfire observations, and the database is complemented with virtual fires to simulate additional complex scenarios. Moreover, a set of capacity-building tools is developed for enhancing the uptake of new science and knowledge by emergency managers. This includes guidelines, training courses, training materials and recommendations for institutional capacity building. The uniqueness of the wildfire data system supports emergency response organisations across Europe by:
- accessing easy-to-use tools designed by emergency responders for emergency responders,
- providing knowledge to organisations with limited exposure to extreme wildfires, through accessing the novel knowledge hub (e.g. Central- Northern-Europe), and
- strengthening Europe’s capacities to advance in the science and innovation related to extreme wildfire events.
ODET’s co-design user-oriented approach enables integration and operationalisation of knowledge, to provide a practical and in-demand solution for emergency managers, significantly improving overall EWE management capabilities and interoperability.
