International Fire Lessons Workshop - SparkleFire

Key information

Description

Background and Purpose

Decades of fire-exclusion policies have not curbed the rise in severe rural wildfires in Europe. This event aims to disseminate the results of the SparkleFire project and discuss integrated fire management and environmental education as a response to risk, with contributions from leading European experts in education, fire ecology and emergency communication.

Objectives

• Disseminate the results, games and methodologies of SparkleFire and the project's partners.
• Discuss integrated fire management and environmental education as a response to wildfire risk.
• Highlight leading European experiences in research, training and crisis communication.
• Generate territorial commitments for the continuity of fire education actions.

Target Audience

Technicians, civil protection, decision-makers, researchers, students, teachers

Tentative Programme

1st Day: 26 November 2026

09:30 - 10:00  Institutional Opening Session

Rui Rocha – Secretary of State for Civil Protection (to be confirmed)

Álvaro Santos - President of the North Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N) (to be confirmed)

Directorate-General For European Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid Operations (to be confirmed)

Tiago Cunha - Mayor of the Municipality of Paredes de Coura

1st Panel: Playing to Learn to Live with Fire

Moderator:   Tiago Brandão Rodrigues (former Minister of Education)

10:00 - 10:30  Cathelijne Stoof - Wageningen University (SparkleFire coordinator): The SparkleFire project: serious games to educate on wildfire risk.

10:30 - 11:00  Conceição Colaço - CEABN-ISA, University of Lisbon: Relearning to live with wildfires: education and dissemination.

11:00 - 11:15  Coffee break           

11:15 - 11:45  Martí Romani - Fundació Pau Costa: MeFiTu Project - Understanding wildfires: sustainable management and environmental education tools.

11:45–12:15    Agency for Integrated Rural Fire Management, I.P. (AGIF): “Raposa Chama” Project - Educating children and young people on fire prevention. (to be confirmed)

12:15 -12:30   Discussion

12:30 - 14:00  Lunch (free)for

2nd Panel - Education, Science and Community Action in the Face of Wildfire Risk

Moderation: Vitor Paulo Pereira (Managing Director of EPRAMI)

14:00 - 14:30  Jorge Gomes - Co-founder of VOST Portugal: Digital volunteering in emergencies - crisis communication and risk literacy. (to be confirmed)

14:30 - 15:00  Pablo Ángel Meira Cartea - University of Santiago de Compostela: Environmental education and social representations of risk and climate change.

15:00 - 15:15  Coffee break

15:15–15:45    Miguel Pardellas - Asociación Feitoria Verde: Social participation and community strategies for risk adaptation.

15:45 - 16:15  Mónica Maia-Mendes - SPECO, Training Centre: Teacher training as a means of disseminating a culture of prevention.

16:15 - 16:45  María Turiño García - Fundación Entretantos: Communities engaged in wildfire protection: how to better protect our territories together.

16:45 - 17:15  Discussion 

2nd Day: 27 November 2026

Games, experimentation and territorial commitment

09:00 - 09:15  Meeting point at Biological Coura

12:00 - 12:30  Workshop Closing