FIRElinks

Sardinia 2020 WG5 Meeting
2020-03-24 - 2020-03-27 | Associazione Baddesalighes, Sardinia, Str. Badde Salighes, Bolotana, Province of Nuoro, 08011, Italy
During thousands of years, Sardinia, as other Mediterranean regions, developed a socio-ecological mosaic landscape composed by agriculture, forest and shrublands. Nowadays, the idea of mosaic is still considered as one of the best infrastructures to mitigate the impact of natural hazards, such us wildfires, pests and flooding. However, in the last 60 years, the migrations due to industrialization from rural to urban areas, caused a devaluation of rural economies and led to rural abandonment. The impacts of this abandonment are still very visible in the land, thus dense forest and shrublands now occupy the traditionally managed landscapes. These unmanaged lands generate a much higher risk, e.g. of large wildfires, for rural communities and also for urban population living in wildland urban interfaces under highly vulnerable conditions.
Understanding the way societies need to co-exist with natural risks, enhancing risk mitigation from a bottom-up approach, encouraging actions done by local communities and discussing the best way to apply traditional land management, are key actions needed in order to improve risk management. To succeed, all these actions shall be linked to a sustainable economic model that is not only based in the economic values, but a model that includes other values contributing to build resilient landscapes and societies. Download the meeting flyer.
1 st Working Group 5 Meeting & Workshop with stakeholders
Associazione Badde Salighes 1879,
24 and 27 March 2020
8:30 – 10:00 Registration. Welcome words and introduction (EFI, PCF, CFVA)
10:00 – 10:30 Coffee break
10:30 – 12:00 Visit to Percy House and neighborhood (Associazione Badde Salighes 1879)
12:00 – 13:30 Lunch break
14:00 – 17:00 Face-to-face discussion on (EFI, PCF, CFVA, Ag. Forestas, Regional Civil Protection):
• Recent fires in Sardinia. Traditional fire knowledge in Mediterranean Region
o Weakness and strengths in fire landscape
o Water and fire in Sardinia: a lookout
• Climate change and new vision about prevention
17:00 – 19:00 Planning for the coming days
20:00 Welcome dinner 8:30 – 11:30 Fieldtrip to Natural park with Ilex aquifolium, Taxus baccata and Quercus sp.
11:30 – 13:00 Discussion about forest and pasture management: changes in landscape, issues about conservation management or active silviculture, how local communities contribute to more resilient landscapes?
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 17:00 Bioeconomy presentations:
• Tourism and local products. Is it compatible with resilient landscape management?
• Lessons learnt from the FireFlocks project: extensive livestock for fuel reduction
• EFI bio-economy experts
17:00 – 18:00 New vision in self-protection of rural settlements. Are the actual measures against fire effective? What can we do to improve our safety?
20:00 Dinner and networking 8:30 – 9:00 Travel to visit a burnt area or performance of a prescribed burn
9:00 – 12:30 Opening of the prescribed burn (Sardinia CFVA GAUF+ EFRS and other operators)
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch break
13:30 – 17:30 Conclusion of the prescribed burn and mop-up
17:30 – 19:00 Face-to-face discussion with locals: could we recover ancient traditions by creating local groups of experts in the use of fire?
19:00 – 20:00 Travel back to the forestry house
20:00 Dinner 8:30 – 10:00 Communication workshop: “How to facilitate the communication within local managers and interactions with policymakers?” (By Ewa Hermanowicz)
10:00 – 12:00 Discussion and approval of “Carta di Badde Salighes”: best practices to enhance landscape resilience in rural communities
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch and departure

Synergy Workshop Year 1
2020-03-09 - 2020-03-12 | University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, Haifa, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
Synergy Fieldmeeting COST ACTION Fire in the Earth System Year 1
University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel,
9-12 March 2020
FIRElinks will develop the EU-spanning network of scientists and practitioners involved in forest fire research and land management and connect communities from different scientific and geographic backgrounds, allowing the discussion of different experiences and the emergence of new approaches to fire research.
The synergy meeting aims to bring together people from different working groups to see the fire related issues the Israeli colleagues are dealing with. The meeting will visit three different sites to see where fire impacts in a dryland system and in urban areas. 13:30 Welcome to participants
14:00 Introductory talks by Israeli key scientists (tbd)
15:00 Coffee break
15:30 Introductory talks by Israeli stakeholders (tbd)
16:30 Coffee break
17:00 Discussion with stakeholders and participants of the synergy meeting
18:00 End of the day. 09:00 Keynote by Dan Malkinson on fire effects in the mountains of Israel
9.30 Invited talks by Juli Pausas (tbc)
10:00 Invited talk by Stefan Doerr (tbc)
10:30 Coffee break
11:30 Introduction to the field visits
13:00 Lunch (not provided by organizers)
14:00 Visit to the Hai Bar Carmel Nature Reserve. Guide: Dan Malkinson
18:00 End of the day. 07:00-12:00 Urban fires-hiking in Nahal Ezov. Along the trip there will be
explanations of experts of the sites we will visit. Guide: Lea Wittenberg.
Picknick lunch (not provided by organisation)
12:00-18:00 Field visit to the Siach Nahal Mearot Nature Reserve. Along the trip
there will be explanations of experts of the sites we will visit. Guide: Nurit Shtober 09:00-16:00 Bus excursion to the Judean Mountains. Along the trip there will be
explanations of experts of the sites we visit.
Picknick lunch (not provided by organisation)
16:00 end of meeting

Haifa 2020 WG2 Meeting
2020-03-08 - 2020-03-09 | University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, Haifa, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
1 st Working Group 2 Meeting: Fire effects on Plants and Fauna
University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel,
8 and 9 March 2020
09:00 Welcome to participants
10:00 Introduction of the core group of WG2.
10:30 Coffee break
11:30 General information on goals, scope and objectives of WG2.
12:30 Lunch (not provided by the organizers)
13:30 Working session to discuss ideas for agenda setting papers.
14:30 Coffee break
15:00 Design scopes for agenda setting papers in the field of fire effects on
plants and fauna.
17:00 End of the day. 09:00 Plan the working plan for year 2 of the COST Action.
10:30 Coffee break
11:30 Discussion of deliverables of papers and timeline of WG2 Activies
12:30 End of the WG meeting
Lunch – not provided by the organizers

Aveiro 2020 WG4 Meeting
2020-02-19 - 2020-02-20 | University of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, Department of Environment and Planning, Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal
1 st Work Group 4 Meeting: Fire effects on water, sediment and contaminant transport
University of Aveiro, Portugal,
19 and 20 February 2020

9h30-13h00: technical workshop on post-fire hydrology – open to WG4 participants

introduction to WG4
short scientific presentations by the participants
discussion about the state of the art

13h00-14h00: lunch
14h00-17h00: public seminar on fire impacts on water resource quality – open to the general public

keynote speech
invited speakers: researchers and managers
roundtable

Evening: social dinner

9h30-15h00: field visit

burned area close to a water uptake point
research sites from the University of Aveiro on ash mobilization and transport
lunch with young researchers

15h00-17h00: brainstorming future plans for WG4

discussion of next deliverables and WG4 research article
agenda for the next years

Haugesund 2019 WG1 Meeting
2019-12-10 - 2019-12-11 | Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bjørsonsgate 45, Haugesund, 5523, Norway
1 st Work Group 1 Meeting: Fire occurrence, dynamics and prevention
Bjørsonsgate 45, 5523, Haugesund, Norway10th and 11th December 2019 from 09:00 to 16:00

09:00 Welcome to participants10:00 Introduction of the core group of WG110:30 Coffee break11:30 General information on goals and objectives of WG112:30 Lunch13:30 Keynote (Elsa Pastor)14:00 Setting the frame for the WG1With a coffee break at 14:3016:00 End of the day

09:00 Brainstorm on research topics and current knowledge gaps10:30 Coffee break11:30 Breakout groups with a focus on key issues to be addressed in WG112:30 Lunch13:30 Selection of topic to work on a review article14:30 Coffee break15:00 Discussion of deliverables and timeline15:30 Plan for future work16:00 End of the day.

Sofia 2019 MC Meeting
2019-10-08 - 2019-10-09 | The House of Science and Technology, Sofia, Rakovsky 108, Sofia, 1000, Bulgaria
First General Assembly & 2nd MC meeting

Moments from the meeting

Presentations
Dear Colleagues,
With this we would like to invite you for the first General Assembly Meeting of the COST Action FireLinks in Sofia (Bulgaria) held on the 8th and 9th of October 2019 in The House of Science and Technology (FNTS) situated close to the city centre.
This first scientific meeting of this COST Action will focus on setting the agenda for the coming 4 years in which the Action will run. A provisional program is listed at the end of this document. Apart from several keynote addresses introducing key issues of fires in Europe and the working group topics the meeting will be attended by fire managers and decision makers outside of academia who will present their view on fire perception, risk and scientific research, and share with us the questions and needs policy makers and end users have. This will link the science and end-user community to find common language and create an interactive atmosphere. In addition, it is important that all involved in this Action will get to know each other and each other’s work. For this purpose we would like to invite all participants (or groups of participants) to make a poster to present their work. In the program there will be ample time to look at each other’s posters and discuss possible linkages and set up collaboration.
To facilitate attendance of as many participants as possible within our limited budget, we will reimburse a flat rate for the hotels of 60 euro per night. This should be sufficient for a 3* hotel in Sofia as there is excellent choice in this beautiful city. We recommend, for example, the Hotel Niky.
Reimbursement
To enable the attendance of as many people as possible we want to lower the flat rate for the hotels to 60 euro per night.
What falls in the reimbursement?

Travel on basis of receipts;
Hotel expenses with a flat rate for accommodation of 60 euro per night (with a maximum of 3 nights eligible for reimbursement);
Meals: flat rate of 20 euro per meal that is not provided by the organisation.

Preliminary schedule and titles for the Meeting

8:15 Registration opens
9:00. Stefan Doerr. Welcome and draft agenda of the meeting
9:10. Artemi Cerdà. Introduction to the FIRElinks mission
9:30. Keynote 1: Jesús San-Miguel-Ayanz
Wildfire trends and wildfire risk forecasting at the European level
10:00 Keynote 2: Nicolas Faivre
Opportunities and challenges of the FireLinks network within the EU R&I landscape
10:30 Coffee break
11:30 The ‘Fire Problem’ and ‘State of the Art’ in each country – Part 1
(10 minutes per national representant)
Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Israel
13:00 Lunch at the conference venue
14:30 The ‘Fire Problem’ and ‘State of the Art’ in each country – Part 2
(10 minutes per national representant)
Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, N. Macedonia, Kosovo, Bulgaria
16:00 Coffee break
16:30-17:30 2nd MC meeting (only open to MC members)/ Posters attendance for non MC members
17:30-18:30 Posters with discussions and refreshments
Conference dinner (20 euro to be paid to the organization and reimbursed via COST)

9:00 Keynote 3: Juli Pausas
Wildfires as an ecosystem service
9:30 Keynote 4: Gavriil Xanthopoulos & Ioannis Mitsopoulos
The catastrophic fire of July 2018 in Greece and the Report of the Independent Committee that was appointed by the government to investigate the reasons for the worsening wildfire trend in the country
10:00 Keynote 5: Nina Dobrinkova
CMINE Wildfire Task Group activities and fire risk modelling tools applicable for fire suppression measures
10:30 Coffee break
11:00 The State of the Art it each country – part 3
(10 minutes per national representant)
Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Latvia
12:30 Lunch at the conference venue
14:00 The State of the Art it each country – part 4
(10 minutes per national representant)
UK, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia
15:30 Coffee break
16:00 Breakout groups with a focus on key issues to be addressed in each WG, and for promoting training and career development
17:00 Breakout group feedback and panel discussion to set the agenda for this COST Action
18:30 Closure

Sofia 2019 WG3 Meeting
2019-10-06 - 2019-10-07 | Sofia University, Building of the Faculty of Biology, 4th floor, 8 Dragan Tsankov Blvd, Sofia, 1164, Bulgaria
Soils and forest fires today. Science and Society

1st Working Group 3 meeting. Firelinks 6th of October

Venue: 8 Dragan Tsankov Blvd, 4th floor, SofiaBuilding of the Faculty of Biology,Sofia University (10 min walking from FNTS General Assembly meeting).
10:00-12:00. Reception of the participants.12:00. Artemi Cerdà Firelinks. Challenges and targets.13:00. Lunch14:00. Welcome address by WG leader Irena Atanassova14:30. Opening by Action Chair Artemi Cerda and Action Vice Chair Stefan Doerr.15.00. Open discussion on how to set up the work of WG3 for 4 years of Firelinks.16:00. Coffee break.16:30. Milestones and Deliverables for WG3. Ideas and further developments.18:00. closure

Venue: N. Poushkarov Institite of Soil Science, Sofiaul. Bansko shose 7, 1331 Sofia
9:00. Irena Atanassova. Welcome and plan.9:10. Artemi Cerdà. Road to Firelinks and soils.9:30. Irena Atanassova. Soil chemistry and fire. Organic geochemical markers in burnt soils andsoils amended with biochar. Overview and challenges.10:00 Lea Wittenberg. Soil physics, soil erosion and fire. Overview andchallenges.10:30 Coffee break11:00 Stefan Doerr. Soil water repellency and fire. Overview and challenges.11:00. Soil microbiology and fire. Overview and challenges.
11:30. Open discussion. Gaps in knowledge and opportunities for research.12:30. Lunch.13:30. State-of-the-art and future challenges in forest fires effects on soils13:30. Heike Knicker. How does pyrogenic organic matter input affect soil functions?14:00. Agustin Merino; Stefan Doerr, Christina Santin. Innovative techniques to study SOM andP in soils as a tool for the management of burnt areas.14:30. Report (paper) on fire effects on soils (all participants).Proposal for the structure of the report (all participants)15:00. Coffee break.15:30. Composing separate groups to discuss different sections of the report.16:30. General discussion about the report with all participants.17:00. Challenges and next meeting of the WG. Candidatures.17:30. Future challenges and milestones for Firelinks (by Artemi Cerdà)18:30. Closure
