Integrated fire management, the focus for debate at the PyroLife 2023 Conference

The Pau Costa Foundation, the Open University of Catalonia, and the Wageningen University & Research organise the “PyroLife 2023 Conference: The four axes of diversity of wildfire”, taking place in Barcelona, Spain, from the 14th to the 16th of March. PyroLife is a PhD training program on Integrated Fire Management funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. The goals of the conference are to know the novel results obtained by the PyroLife Early Stage Researchers, to discuss the present and future of Integrated Fire Management, and to give opportunities to the participants to expand their professional network. These include wildfire researchers and practitioners from 10 European countries, the US, and New Zealand. 

Integrated Fire Management is an approach to fire management that seeks to reduce the risks and maximise the benefits of fire through the integration of knowledge and expertise from multiple agents: scientists, practitioners, administration, landowners, local communities, firefighters, etc. The risk of extreme wildfires nowadays is increasing due to the lack of appropriate management, changes in land use, and climate change. Many experts globally believe that Integrated Fire Management is a long-term sustainable way to reduce the risk of extreme wildfires. For instance, one common practice is using prescribed fires to reduce the excessive vegetation in controlled conditions to avoid fires burning into uncontrollable large wildfires. The PyroLife 2023 Conference is a meeting point for new and established experts in Integrated Fire Management to exchange views and advance in this field. 

“PyroLife – training the next generation of Integrated Fire Management experts” is an Innovative Training Network composed of 26 partner organisations and funded under Horizon 2020 from the European Commission with € 3,946,980. It supports a group of Early Stage Researchers from 10 European institutions to conduct their doctoral research mostly at their home institution and also at two host organisations in other countries. 

The conference consists of a fieldtrip (14th March) and two days of sessions (15th and 16th March). The later are taking place at 19th-century building “Can Jamandreu”, originally used as a textile mill and now as premises of the Open University of Catalonia, and include presentations by 13 PyroLife Early Stage Researchers and keynote speakers Claire Smyth (South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust), Mark Smyth (Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service) and Jordi Oliveres (Catalan Fire and Rescue Service); panel discussions, a workshop, a poster session, an exhibition and social events. 

The field trip is taking place alongside the European project FIRE-RES and is organised by the Catalan Fire and Rescue Service, the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia, and the Pau Costa Foundation. Participants will visit forested areas where the Catalan Fire and Rescue Service is integrating fire into their management strategies to reduce the risk of wildfires.

UOC researchers take part in international project

Míriam Arenas and Israel Rodríguez-Giralt, researchers from the UOC Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) Care and Preparedness in the Network Society (CareNet) group, have taken part in the PyroLife project. It is an international project to train experts and foster a change in the way wildfires are managed, actively involving citizens in their prevention and taking into account the most vulnerable groups. The project stresses the need for inclusive communication of the risk with citizens and community participation in the management of fires.

This project, involving the UOC, supports Sustainable Development Goal 13, climate action.

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