WUI Fires & Flash Floods (TCP 4) Open Call

Status: Open Closed

Wildland-Urban-Interface (WUI) Fires Section

Scope

Wildland-Urban-Interface Fires have emerged as a major risk of many dimensions in firefighting. MEDEA invites fellow practitioners, academics, researchers, solution providers, and policy makers to engage with the work of the MEDEA Network of Practitioners with an aim to provide solutions and insight to the following areas:

  1. Inadequate Perception of Fire Risk and Lack of Risk Awareness in Wildland Urban Interface Areas [4.CGF.1]
  2. Lack of Reliable and Real-Time Information on Crisis Communication[4.CGF.3]
  5. Lack of a Standardised and Interdisciplinary Methodology for Developing Wildland Urban Interface Prevention Plans[4.CGF.2]
  6. Lack of Evidence-Based Knowledge (Including Risk Assessment and Cascading Effects) on Fire Behaviour in Wildland Urban Interface Areas[4.CGF.5]
  7. Inadequate Fire-Fighting Knowledge and Shortage of Fire-Suppression Resources and Operational Means for Operating in Wildland Urban Interface Areas​ [4.CGF.6]
  8. Limits in implementing in-place sheltering[4.CGF.8]
  9. Lack of adoption of innovative tools in firefighting[4.CGF.9]
Objective

Solution providers, academics, researchers, and policy makers are invited to participate in the following ways:

  • Present current technological solutions and research for providing guidance to evacuees in case of a WUI fire.
  • Provide real-time updates of the hazard the evacuees are exposed to, and capabilities for sending personalised evacuation guidelines based on their location.
  • Present current multilingual public announcement systems to inform non-native speakers about the evacuation specifics.
  • Present innovation to eliminate/restrict/limit all information sources that disseminate false data and transmit misleading guidelines.
  • Provide a solution for interoperability between various information systems, used by all involved stakeholders, and standardised interfaces.
  • Submit Ideas for a “common platform” where all information is maintained and shared between all practitioner organisations based on their involvement and expected contribution.
  • State of the art developments in WUI evacuation modelling, taking into consideration risk metrics, fire propagation, and population behaviour.
  • Promote joint awareness and active sharing of fire risk management between land planners, forest and fire managers, home-owners, and residents.

 

For the preceding topics, the MEDEA network members will organise a competition for solutions with high impact and innovation potential. The competition aims to reward State Of The Art (SOTA) advancements that will partially and/or fully address the capability gaps experienced by practitioners.

Topics to be discussed

Specifically, the MEDEA Network of Practitioners would like to explore and discuss the following topics with WUI stakeholders:

  • Availability of tools that consider WUI risk metricsand predict the spread of fires in WUI residential areas, assess fire susceptibility of structures, and mitigate effects of fires on structures through science-based codes and buildings’ standards
  • Prediction toolsthat accurately anticipate fire behaviour, its propagation, and the cascading effects in WUI areas.
  • Solutions to provide intelligenceabout the presence of residents, people exposed to risk, and vulnerable individuals.
  • Risk assessment modelsadapted to WUI fire behaviour. 
  • Use of modern operational means and fire-suppression toolsthat allow intervention in sensitive wildland-urban environments.
  • Digitalising informationto allow field teams to manage fire in a more controlled and educated manner.
  • Adoption of innovative tools by firefighting organisationsregarding various activities during fire management.
  • Mitigate underlying causes of fire behaviour in WUI areas.
  • In-house sheltering research for WUI areas.
  • Fire safety leadership in WUI communities.

Flash Floods Section

Scope

Flash flood events are among the most important natural hazards in the Mediterranean area. As is the case with natural disasters, flash floods are associated with severe impacts on humans, society, economy and the environment both on a short-term and on a long-term basis. Flash floods have emerged as a major risk of many dimensions in rescue to the population and preserving the infrastructures. MEDEA, invites fellow practitioners, academics, researchers, solution providers, and policy makers to engage with the work of MEDEA Network of Practitioners with an aim to provide solutions and insights to the following areas:

  1. Need for improved (spatially and temporally) weather forecasts and more accurate tracking of flooded areas [4.CGF.10]
  2. Need for improved (spatially and temporally) flash flood related information to authorities and the general population [4.CGF.11]
  3. Need for full exploitation of aerial means and Earth Observation during the response phase of a flood event and their incorporation in real time situational awareness systems. [4.CGF.12]
  4. Need for an automatically real time situational awareness and decision support systems [4.CGF.13]
  5. Need for robust & resilient communications means in case of natural hazards [4.CGF.14]
  6. Need for efficient and specific rescue means in case of flash flood [4.CGF.15]
  7. Need for efficient and specific rescue plans in case of flash flood [4.CGF.16]
  8. Need for improving awareness of population toward natural hazards alerts [4.CGF.17]
  9. Need for solutions to efficiently archive past flood events (both for prevention and preparedness) in a standardized format and make them accessible to practitioners [4.CGF.18]
  10. Need for standardized information sharing among all stakeholders engaged in response to flash flood events [4.CGF.19]
  11. Need for a solid approach to efficiently exploit lessons learnt for past floods [4.CGF.20]
Objectives

Solution providers, academics, researchers, and policy makers are invited to participate in the following ways:

  • Present solutions for improving the spatial and temporal resolutions of weather forecasts at local level;
  • Suggest improved instrumentation (weather radars, rain gauges, stream flow gauges) and efficient networks to support/improve flood forecasting;
  • Present solutions to improve the dissemination (temporally and spatially) of information related to flash flood events to populations and authorities; propose an efficient flash flood alert system;
  • Present a solution for real time situational awareness of the flash flood event by allowing access to real time images and ground monitoring of the event.
  • Propose an efficient data fusion module that will collect information from various sources (including social media) and will process intelligence.
  • Present a robust (capable to withstand extreme weather conditions: cold, heat, water, ice, drought, wind…), resilient, secure, critical broadband communication network, operable everywhere, allowing its future evolution as technology advances using open standards interface (no vendor lock).
  • Propose robust, efficient, and advanced rescue means for flash floods (under extreme weather conditions)
  • Propose an accurate simulation tool to update, validate, and optimise rescue plans for flash flood risks.
  • Propose a solution for efficient and reliable communication towards the population in case of natural hazards via social media, based on official information by official entities and adapted to the target.
  • Present a solution to keep track of the event (images, flood data, locations), assess the correlation between rain and flood impact in a standardized format, and make them accessible to practitioners.

Again, for the preceding topics the MEDEA network members will organise a competition for solutions with high impact and innovation potential to reward State Of The Art (SOTA) advancements that will partially and/or fully address the capability gaps experienced by practitioners.

Topics to be discussed

The MEDEA Network of Practitioners would like to explore and discuss the following topics with flash flood stakeholders:

  • Improvement of tools for flash flood forecasting both temporally and locally through new specific instrumentation and modelling.
  • Prediction tools that accurately anticipate flash flood behaviour and location at local level, as well as cascading effects;
  • Dissemination and updating of reliable information towards the population at risk
  • Resilient and robust communication tools for first responders in case of natural hazards
  • Innovative instruments to gather real times images of the event;
  • Adoption of innovative tools by civil protection organisations regarding various activities during flash flood management.

RDI Day

After the Open Call to Academia and Industry (More details are provided here), a Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) Day will be organised. Responders to the open call (security stakeholders, industries, academia, research organisations and SMEs) will be able to present pertinent solutions to MEDEA members in high level of operational details.

Incentives

MEDEA will support a number of solution providers that will be invited for the “hands-on demos” with a voucher funding scheme to cover travelling and accommodation expenses, transportation of equipment and some consumable costs. A total amount of 15.000 euros is allocated for the TCP4 demonstration event (organised by practitioners), aiming to assist SMEs, Academia, and Research Projects to participate.

The demonstration event will be an attractive opportunity for solution providers to present the use of their tools in simulated real-life conditions and engage with a community of practitioners from MEDEA and other networks of practitioners.

Awards

There will also be a budget of 15.000 Euros so as to award challenge prizes for innovative solutions that fulfil (or will fulfil) the identified TCP capability gaps. The prize awards will be defined based on the number of the capability gaps, their priority and the urgency to fulfil said gaps (time horizon).. The means to address these capability gaps will not be prescribed, leaving contestants total freedom to come up with the most promising and effective solutions. The MEDEA prize award will aim to attract a wider range of innovators, provide opportunities to innovators to forge new partnerships, promote new products and services and spur interest in the problem areas defined by the practitioners.

Click here to submit your Application.

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