Cross-border cOoperation in Managing Emergency

ended

OVERC.O.M.E. stems from a strategical consortium of IT and FR end-users: National Fire and Rescue Service (CNVVF), Departmental Fire and Rescue Service of Savoie (SDIS73) and of Pas de Calais (SDIS62) as well as the specialised International CBRNE Institute (ICI) BE. It enhances a long-lasting cross-border cooperation in the frame of formal protocols between IT and FR which are the formal basis to carry out activities aimed at: i) improving the quality of exchange flow to reduce loss of time during CBRN operations; ii) contributing to enhance mutual cooperation for border general interventions. To reach these objectives the following have been identified in a needs analysis or by direct experience of the end-users: i) developing shared procedures for joint interventions of teams for CBRN and USAR for CBRN scenarios; ii) customizing for CBRN events the multilingual Prometheus System; iii) developing a virtual operational room within Prometheus (alert phase) overcoming communication barriers for a smooth understanding of the needs and resources whenever requested at the border. It is pivotal to involve senior-experienced end-users who are actively and jointly implementing the tasks supported by ICI. Main outputs are: 1. Procedures for CBRN with standardised forms; 2. Prometheus for CBRN and for the 3. Virtual Operational Room. These are designed to be fostered beyond the pilot geographical area where the project is developed. As a matter of fact, the action has risen already interest by other countries’ end-users, CP authorities (from AT, ES, SI, CZ) and organisations (CTIF) because it intends to tackle a type of risk considered extremely relevant in EU, harmonising a response to it by using a “bottom-up” approach (from end-users for end-users). The tangible results of the project, its scopes and the applied methods are spread in the Alpine Space (4 FR Departments, 5 IT Regions) and countries (CH, AT, SI) through also invited external experts and tailored training.