Pilot preparations at the two-year mark

The two-year mark of the TEMA project represents the half-way point of the project. This is a good opportunity to reflect on the work completed so far, and to look towards the future. The project started out with the familiarisation of the end users with technology partners and vice-versa. The two groups represent two different communities of experts, each working in their own domain. 

End users in TEMA represent practitioners working in civil protection organisations from various parts of Europe: Finland, Germany, Italy, and Greece. Their experiences and expertise cover a wide range of disasters that occur across Europe. Although the types of incidents may be similar, their contexts across Europe are quite different. Fires are common and severe in Greece, and a constant threat across summer. In Finland fires have been small and rare in comparison to southern Europe, the effects of climate change will impact the European north severely, increasing both the number and severity of fires. In Italy, both fires and floods represent seasonal threats, necessitating new ways to prepare and respond to risks. In Germany, flash floods challenge the regional response units to find new ways to enhance situational awareness and mitigate risks.

The TEMA technical partners represent a diverse consortium of experts conducting research and development on technologies aimed at supporting the work of the civil protection. Technologies include solutions to estimate how water and fire will spread, identify objects and persons during disasters, monitor weather and its impact on the disaster and more. The many technologies and sources of data will be combined and merged into a decision support system for the end users.

To meet the needs of the end users, technical partners must familiarise themselves with the working requirements and information gaps that civil protection workers have during incidents. Similarly, end user partners require an understanding of the many technologies in the project, and how they can improve their work. The first period in the project therefore focuses on the familiarisation with the many aspects of work between the two groups. The work is an iterative process, necessitating the close examination of each of the technical components, and its potential to adequately support the work in fires and/or floods. End user partners provide insights into the operational procedures of their work, and what information they have at various points, and what further information would be desirable to have. Technical partners analyse to procedures and identify gaps where their technologies could fit into. The process is revisited multiple times, ensuring that a consensus is reached in the purpose and capability of technology, and the suitability of its application for the end users. More than just individual components, the TEMA system represents a complex set of functional and non-functional tools aimed and streamlining the gathering of information, generating reports and providing actionable insights.

The requirements identified present a set of goals that the technical partners need to meet. Once the requirements are defined, the end user partners turn to define the pilot cases where the TEMA solution will be tested. Two floods, a forest fire and a wildfire will serve as the testing ground during the pilot trials in 2025 and 2026. Early 2025 therefore focuses on the design of the individual trials, the operational procedures that will be conducted, and the considerations on how the technologies will be tested. The aim is to use data gathered from past events to estimate the scope and severity of disasters, and live events such as prescribed forest fires to measure the performance of the TEMA solution and its value to the end users. Looking ahead, the second part of the project will drive further development in the state of the art of combating natural disasters through new technological solutions, as well as the learning and experiences gained throughout the project.

More on the TEMA results so far https://tema-project.eu/materials/public-deliverables

Cover photo: Bavarian Red Cross HQ©