From 18th to 20th January 2022, FIRE-RES held its kick-off meeting in Solsona (Spain) to officially set up the activities of the project. Key interventions from the FIRE-RES partners, external experts and a visit to burnt areas in Catalonia fed three days of intensive and inspiring work.
FIRE-RES: A new paradigm to fire management
In its first two days, the kick-off meeting went through the underlying concepts of the FIRE-RES project and approach, that are key features of its innovativeness. As Antoni Trasobares, Director of the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (Spain) and coordinator of the FIRE-RES project, stated “Extreme fire events have new features that are not totally understood. We need to integrate fire and landscape management”. He added that the “classical sequential approach needs to be changed to an interactive format via innovation actions.”
A FOCUS ON DEVELOPING AND DEPLOYING INNOVATIONS
Moving towards a more Integrated Fire Management Model is the ambition of the FIRE-RES project, and it will be possible thanks to an ambitious set of innovative actions. Overall, more than 34 innovations will be developed by FIRE-RES partners and tested in the 11 Living Labs. “Living Labs and Innovation Actions are at the core of FIRE-RES” stated Irina Profokieva from the Forest Science of Technology Centre of Catalonia and coordinator the FIRE-RES Living Labs on 19th February.
During these days, partners could present their innovation actions and how these will be grounded into the 11 Living Labs in Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Catalonia and Galicia (Spain), Greece, Nouvelle Aquitaine (France), Netherlands-Germany, Norway-Seweden, Portugal, Sardinia (Italy).
Moreover, on 20th January, the FIRE-RES partners visited two burnt areas in the territory of the Catalonian Living Lab, Spain. These are the territories affected by the Odena Fire in 2015, and the Santa Coloma de Queralt Fire (2021).
