EVITA Wildfire Evacuation Trigger Buffers for Sensitive Areas

Prof. Chris T. KiranoudisNational Technical University of Athens, Greece

17 January 2013

Coordinating Beneficiary:

National Technical University of Athens (EL) - CO

 

Associated Beneficiaries:

General Secretariat for Civil Protection of Greece (EL)-AB1

Prodigy Consultores S.L. (ES)- AB2

Sardinia Region (IT) – AB3

EVITA consortium

National Technical University of Athens NTUA is the oldest and most prestigious educational institution of Greece (founded in 1836). The personnel of the nine Faculties include more than 700 people as academic staff, 140 scientific assistants and 260 administrative and technical staff. The total number of NTUA employees is about 1350. The Unit of Computational Mechanics (School of Chemical Engineering) consists of 4 academic staff and 10 on contract researchers. It has developed research collaboration with numerous Universities, Research Centers and Companies and it has been benefited from EC financing through the programs DG ECHO (ARTEMΙS and MASSIVE), INTERREG IIIB ARCHIMED (MEDRISK) and LIFE+ (CALCHAS). The team has proven expertise in designing, developing and deploying software prototypes for various environmental management systems of complex phenomena such as simulation of and logistics around forest fires.

General Secretariat for Civil Protection of GreeceThe GSCP, under Ministry of Citizen Protection, studies, plans, organizes and coordinates the country’s policy concerning issues of public awareness, prevention and confrontation of natural or manmade of other disasters and generally the coordination of actions of the public services and the civil volunteers and the ensuring of the alertness of the country for the confrontation of these disasters. The mission of GSCP includes: (i) the protection of citizen's life, health and property from natural, technological and other major hazards, and (ii) the protection of cultural heritage, historic buildings and monuments, the resources and the infrastructure. GSCP participates in a numerous of bilateral, multilateral cooperation and initiatives within the framework of signed agreements. Furthermore, it participates actively in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The GSCP’s National Operational Center is connected through CECIS with the ECHO-MIC crisis room. GSCP has a strong expertise in the organization of exercises, and workshops in national, European and international level.

PRODIGY Consultores

PRODIGY is a consultancy firm that offers integral solutions for strategy, development, methodology and business in the field of Research, Development and Innovation. The consultancy mainly covers the following sectors: (i) Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), with a high degree of specialization in tourism, (ii) Environment and (iii) Renewable energies.

PRODIGY arises as a result of the combination of a team with more than 20 years of experience in the field of the RDI and the coordination of more than 200 projects presented at regional, national, European and international level.

PRODIGY has submitted several proposals for clients to national and international calls as FP7, CIP, Interreg, ENPI, ESPON and other calls. Presently, PRODIGY is partner in a FP7 project “Road2SoS”, being in charge of the emergencies reports and roadmapping. PRODIGY is the coordinator of the National Working Group of Smart Cities within the technological platform es.Internet. Finally, the company offers services as consultancy, training and business models.

Sardinia Region

Regional public administration with competences in the tourism, trade and handcraft sectors.

Promotion and policies in tourism, handcrafts and trade. Competences in any activity that promotes and increase the competitiveness and improvement of the 3 mentioned sectors

Budget & Duration

Total eligible cost: 550 000 Euros EC contribution: 412 500 Euros (75%) Duration: 2 years

The answer to the above questions is unique per selected site, as the fire spread rate around it is unique. One technique used for assessing when an evacuation should be recommended is the so-called ‘trigger buffer’.

“Should I initiate an evacuation and how long do I have to evacuate safely?”

An evacuation trigger buffer is a pre-established boundary that circumscribes a site such that when a fire coming from any direction crosses the buffer, an evacuation is recommended. The ultimate goal is to provide maps of zones around selected sensitive sites that denote the time available for evacuation and other necessary actions until an approaching wildfire that has reached the zone arrives at the selected site.

Evacuation Trigger Buffer

EVITA Sites: • a Seveso II installation near Athens • Sardinia and • the Balearic Islands

Expected Results

Verification and improvement of evacuation procedures in case a wildfire is approaching a Seveso II installation. Involvement of all actors (GSCP, Fire Brigade, Police, Health Emergency). Improvement of the relationship, communication and distinct roles between the actors. Field Exercise.

Enhance evacuation management capabilities in tourist islands during summer through advanced technologies.

Achieve a common understanding around the concept of trigger buffer zones as an advanced, yet easy to use, tool for better planning of evacuation procedures

Identify local landmarks which when burnt, nearby communities are explicitly threatened

Develop strategic plans for improving domestic response and preparedness

Active collaboration between Academia, and enterprise for the commercial exploitation of applied risk management

Deliverables

Report on Modelling of trigger buffers for wildfire evacuation of sensitive areas (30/6/13)

Report on Landmarks for the case study areas (31/12/13)

Software tool (31/3/14) Software Tool Users’ Manual

(31/3/14) Report on Seveso II case study

(Requirements, information on hazardous materials, location of Seveso II installations) (31/3/14)

Report on EVITA paper exercise (manual, feedback, results, evaluation) (28/2/14)

Report on EVITA field exercise (manual, feedback, results, evaluation, video, leaflets) (31/7/14)

Leaflets and posters for the Exercises

Report on case study islands incl. Requirements (Balearic islands and Sardinia) (31/3/14)

Web site, Layman’s reportReporting First Reporting to EC (incl. The First

Technical Implementation Report, The Updated T Forms, The Consolidated Cost Statement for the 1st reporting period, Deliverables relevant to the 1st reporting period) (30/7/13)

Second Reporting to EC (30/4/14) Final Reporting to EC (incl. A

statement of expenditure and income, All information necessary for the EC to evaluate the eligibility of costs, Sustainability of the project results in the future) (31/12/14)

Major Events

Field Exercise This is a single-day simulated scenario field exercise in a real environment, in real time. This exercise concerns the event of a wildfire approaching a Seveso II site in Thriassio Field near Athens. Observers will attend the exercise from a conference hall. They will be provided with all the necessary material to follow the exercise. In spring 2014.

Large EVITA Workshop in Athens during EU presidency It will follow EVITA exercise ~May 2014 (exact day to be defined). The DG ECHO Officer will be invited to attend the workshop. The workshop aims at identifying a way forward and the setting up of a roadmap for introducing advanced technology services to safe evacuation when a wildfire approaches a Seveso II site. The demonstration and dissemination activities are of direct benefit to the European CP community. Stakeholders will be trained to use the EVITA software tool.

Major Events

Workshop at Balearic Islands ~Q2, Q3 2014 Workshop at Sardinia ~Q2, Q3 2014

Presentation of EVITA with a real time simulated wildfire in Sardinia /Mallorca, respectively (using ARTEMIS model at no cost)

Roundtable promoting the dialogue and exchange of good practices between the different agents of the value chain: Emergency Services, Hoteliers, Hotel Associations, Neighborhood Associations and Holiday Residence Owners/Associations. With the objective to analyze the state of the art of the emergency action plans and how to improve them.

On the spot generation of evacuation trigger zones for selected hotels, resorts, and settlements after request of participants. The output will be delivered in the form of hardcopy maps to the interested parties.

Training of Stakeholders.