For one week, CIMA Research Foundation researchers will be in charge for the monitoring of fire risk and emergency evaluation in Europe, supporting the European Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC)
Much has been said, recently, about the fires spreading in Siberia, Alaska and Greenland. They are exceptional events, because during summertime the wildfire risk increases especially in the Mediterranean region, where scarce rains, high temperatures and strong winds characterize summer months. Right in this period the European Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) asked to three scientific partners within ARISTOTLE-ENHSP Project, an operative support for forecasting and prevention of wildfires risk. From the 12th to the 18th of August, researchers from CIMA Research Foundation will be in charge of the risk forecasting and assessment analysis in case of major fires.
CIMA Reserach Foundation’s Operations Centre for the Europe
Officially started on October 2018 and led by Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, ARISTOTLE-ENHSP Project follows the pilot project ARISTOTLE 1. It is aimed at creating a European virtual operating centre for natural hazards, such as fires. The expertise of the partners, namely the Instituto Português do Mar e de Atmosfera, Météo-France and CIMA Research Foundation, is put at the service of ERCC, to support UE members and nearby countries in case of emergency.
«In this test phase, during three weeks, each body is alternately responsible for the weekly monitoring of wildfires in the European area», says Paolo Fiorucci, head of the Department of Forest Fires and Biodiversity of CIMA Research Foundation.
«This week it is the turn of our Operations Centre, where the operators forecast and analyse in real-time the fire risk in Europe».
In case of emergency, CIMA Research Foundation has to provide to ERCC, within 30, a first situation assessment. Then, more detailed analysis will be produced within the following three hours from the notification. Moreover, CIMA Research Foundation will produce assessment reports about the possibility that emergency can take place in the European territory, in order to identify the areas at greater risk.
Forecasting fires
But how are these assessment evaluations produced? «Presently, the forecast is based on data from European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), a software platform that gives a risk index based on meteorological forecasts», says Fiorucci. «Considering strength and direction of wind, rainfall and temperatures, EFFIS can give information about the risk of a wildfire to develop in a certain area»
«For us, it is a great satisfaction to be one of the two Italian centres supporting the Emergency Response Coordination Centre. This important acknowledgement has been possible thanks to the expertise acquired in the years as Centre of Competence for the Italian Civil Protection Department», says Luca Ferraris, president of CIMA Research Foundation.