FIRE-SCENE's first event: wildfire risk in WUIs and recreational sites

The increasing occurrence of extreme wildfires and megafires in the Mediterranean under climate change is challenging the capacity of Civil Protection bodies to protect citizens. This task is especially hard in areas with a high concentration of people, like urban settlements outside cities and places of touristic, natural or leisure interest. An integrated approach to wildfire risk management (WRM) that considers risk governance, assessment and planning is key to ensure citizens’ safety. To address these novel risk scenarios and strategies to face them by applying integrated WRM, FIRE-SCENE has established four pilots in Spain, Greece and Italy.  

Along its lifespan, FIRE-SCENE is holding two Exchange & Training Meetings (ETMs) to promote cross-sectoral learning and collaboration on WRM through the different project’s pilots by showcasing challenges and solutions. The first one (ETM1) took place from 3 to 5 June in Catalonia, Spain. Organised by the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) with the support of the Pau Costa Foundation (PCF) and Catalan Civil Protection and attended by representatives of FIRE-SCENE’s partner entities, local agencies and other European projects, ETM1 focused on WRM in the wildland-urban interface (pilot 1) and recreational areas (pilot 4) in Catalonia.  

ETM1 developed across four locations: the premises of CTFC and the Catalan Department of Home Affairs and Public Safety, and the Bages and Solsonès counties. The event included presentations, expert-led discussions, synergy-centred sessions by the projects FIRE-PRIME and FIRE-RES, and visits to the river Ribera Salada, a bathing spot highly frequented during the peak of the wildfire season in Catalonia, and the 2022 Pont de Vilomara wildfire, which severely impacted a wild-land urban interface and left many structures burnt, and the 2022 Castellar de la Ribera wildfire.