Project Background
The project is intended to reduce the number and the impact of forest fires, to protect people, natural environment and properties, and in particular to promote fire prevention among rural communities in fire prone areas of regions facing the Adriatic. Furthermore, the project provides actions related to earthquakes risk aimed at establishing a permanent instrument for preventing, controlling and managing strategic public buildings from earthquakes’ damage risk.
The project performs joint initiatives and pilot actions for direct and indirect long, medium and short-termpreventive measures in wildfire and earthquake risks to enhance policies, regulations and coordination mechanisms.
Knowing that forest fires represent a constant threat to ecological systems, infrastructure, economy and human lives, it is necessary to undertake joint actions towards increasing the level of protection against forest fires. Holistic approach to forest fire prevention is based on two topics, trying to integrate advanced forest fire protection and prevision measures, economic use of biomass, tourism and recreation using:
• Advanced forest fire monitoring system conceived of a network of automatic video surveillance and meteorological monitoring stations, supported by advanced regional systems for micro-location forest fire risk indices calculation and simulation of forest fire propagation and behaviour.
• Organised system for collection of forest looping after forest fire thinning and clearing, its cutting and finally its use as a commercial biomass fuel in communal district heating and cogeneration plants, or in individual heating system of public buildings. Furthermore, it includes the systematic clearance of forest corridors not only as easy access routes for fireman, but also as routes for sport, recreation and village eco-tourism.
Special information system for planning fire prevention, early detection of fire, fire fighting management and post-fire planning the recuperation of the burned areas has to be conceived. Benefits of Holistic Forest Fire Protection model are in all forest fire stages: Before Fire, During Fire and After Fire.
Strategic buildings’ Earthquake risk assessment, prevention and monitoring aims to
• establish instruments for monitoring Strategic Public Buildings (SPBs) (D.G.R. n. 438), from earthquakes’ damage risks and
• develop joint proposals for legislative and institutional regulations for SPBs’ protection, based on the “protection of SPBs from earthquake’s risks”.
The action focuses on the monitoring of changes in SPBs’ vulnerability over a defined time period due to the natural degradation of material properties and cumulative damage from continuous low-level seismic activity in the two areas.
The lessons learnt, the faced shortcomings and the related feedback from an IPA and EU policy makers’ seminar on the topic will be the base to draft proposals for SPB protection policies.