FirEUrisk—Developing a Holistic, Risk-Wise Strategy for European Wildfire Management ^†

The FirEUrisk Project will develop, test, and disseminate an integrated and science-based strategy for wildfire risk management in Europe. This integrated strategy will:

(1)

Expand current wildland fire risk assessment systems, including critical factors of risk that are not currently considered;

(2)

Focus on the development of effective measures that may reduce current fire risk conditions;

(3)

Adapt fire management strategies to expected future climate and socio-economic changes.

This innovative strategy will be co-designed and developed in close collaboration and interaction with researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and citizens and will integrate novel technologies, guidelines, and policy recommendations to improve current systems and practices from the regional to the EU scale. The project will address all types of wildfire types, with a particular focus on mega-fires (high-impact), fire issues at the wildland–urban interface, and fire challenges in the northern EU. A risk-centered management strategy will integrate wildfire prevention, suppression, and restoration practices and policies in a holistic conceptual framework and will implement an operational platform that is able to support joint coordination, professional training, and operational exercises that involve multiple stakeholders and that address all relevant wildfire management tasks to improve the protection of citizens exposed to wildfires.

FirEUrisk has succeeded in building a consortium of renowned public and private research institutes, market-leading innovative and highly specialized companies, and a substantial cluster of operational experts. The FirEUrisk consortium is built on the multi-disciplinary collaboration of experts from a large spectrum of different domains: including multiple areas concerning fire risk analysis and assessment, risk reduction and adaptation. FirEUrisk also includes knowledge from end-users, operational agencies, citizens, and other stakeholders on requirements, regulations, ethics, and policy.