Extreme Wildfire Events Data Hub for Improved Decision Making

ended

The risk of Extreme Wildfires Events is increasing globally due to climate change. Those are complex events associated with high levels of uncertainty. Unfortunately, the capacity of fire emergency organizations to respond to those wildfires globally is limited, mainly due to the lack of data, science, and experience available on these phenomena. Without a better understanding and knowledge of extreme wildfire events, the safety of emergency responders, society and ecosystems is threatened. EWED project will set up a testbed and open platform to advance in research and prepare European emergency response systems for extreme wildfires. For two years, the consortium will gather fire and atmosphere data from extreme wildfire behaviour that has the potential to become extreme events in European countries (Norway, Spain, Greece, Netherlands and others). These data will be used to populate a novel Open Data Portal. The complex processes involved will be adjusted based on Large eddy simulation (LES). The results will be used to improve a land-atmosphere coupled model (CLASS) to learn and improve the understanding of the atmosphere-fire feedback during extreme fire events. The resulting model and data portal will allow real-time analysis of ongoing extreme fire events with atmosphere coupling. Finally, the results will be used to propose advanced guidelines and training on how to prepare and respond to extreme wildfires in Europe. In addition, the guidelines will provide recommendations on how to implement in different European contexts, including new fire-prone countries in Central and Northern Europe that have not yet experienced those types of behaviour, ultimately improving Europe’s preparedness. The project will follow a co-production approach, involving practitioners in every stage of the process. Once the project ends, EWED will be a unique Hub, that will contribute to developing capacity to prepare for Extreme Wildfire Events in Europe and internationally.