Month: October 2021

On the occasion of the Congrès National de Sapeurs-Pompiers de France (127th National Congress of Firefigters of France), on 13-16 October, in Marseille, RESPOND-A, together with the project partner Airbus, had the great opportunity to present the project to over 250,000 French and international firefighters. Several players from the public safety sector attended the Congress and were eager to learn what we are doing to develop enhanced technologies for first responders. We have detailed our latest activities such as our workshop on Augmented Reality, our joint trial in Athens and our recent training in Cyprus. All of these activities involve previously thought scenarios and the use of technologies designed to enhance capabilities and situation awareness during crisis and emergency situations. On the last day of the Congress, we had the pleasure of welcoming in our booth the French Minister of Interior, Gérald Darmanin. The French President Emmanuel Macron also attended the event, delivering the concluding remarks on the importance of public safety and the rise of natural disasters, in particular, addressing the RESCEU, part of the EU Civil Protection mechanism: “Disasters know no borders, and with their increase in number and intensification in kind, we need a European vision to prepare ourselves for the future. That is why civil protection must be a priority for the French Presidency of the Council of the EU“. Closing the 127th National Congress of Firefighters of France, Macron left some announcements: ➜ The creation of a single platform bringing together all calls to emergency numbers. It will be tested from 2022 and for two years across a wider region. ➜ The elimination of the employer wage premium on the fire premium allowing an average monthly gain of 45 euros. ➜ “The extension of the new loyalty and recognition bonus to all those with more than fifteen years of service. The event:The National Congress of Firefighters of France in 2021 was a unique occasion highlighting the 250,000 firefighters in France but also a landmark event for the national civil security projet. A project under the aegis of the National Federation of Firefighters of France, led by the association “Organizing Committee of the 127th National Congress of Firefighters of France”.

On 29 and 30 September, the EU-funded RESPOND-A Project has organised its second training session in Limassol, Cyprus, to familiarise first-responders with the use of RESPOND-A technologies. In the first week of July 2021, a massive wildfire erupted in Cyprus, burning an area of around 55square kilometers and causing the death of 4 people. With the support of several other nations which provided assistance and firefighting aircraft (Greece, Israel, Italy, UK), the blaze was fully under control 48 hours later. “Wildfires are a permanent threat in countries such as Cyprus. It is important for us to be aware of existing innovative technologies that could help us to tackle these disasters more rapidly and effectively” Christophoros STYLIANOU, Head of the Limassol Fire Station RESPOND-A (Next-generation equipment tools and mission-critical strategies for First Responders) is an EU-funded research project aimed at enhancing the capabilities of first responders through the use of innovative technologies. Training is also a key component of the project to familiarize first responders with innovative solutions using realistic use case scenarios. After a first edition that took place fully online in December 2020, this second training was held both online and on-site on 29-30 September 2021. The innovative technologies presented during the training included (name of the technology provider under brackets): –  MAESTRO: a Real-time disaster area management system (IANUS) –  Tag & Trace: Easy-to-use Patients’Triage & Tracking System (PROMETECH) –  XBELLO: Secure 5G Application for real-time information exchange (8BELLS) –  BELL/DFF: Data Format Fusion System (8BELLS) –  UAV-based Communications System (ATMOSPHERE) –  Interactive multi-view VR360 video tool for enhanced situation awareness (I2CAT) –  Next Generation Connectivity Platform (ATHONET)First responders had the opportunity to use and experiment these technologies, namely in a virtual reality (VR) fire scenario and field exercise. This exercise was not only a way for practitioners to experiment with these new technologies, but it is also a great opportunity for technology providers of RESPOND-A to collect feedback on the usability of their solutions.“This second training was a very good opportunity for RESPOND-A to present and train first- responders with the technologies developed and used as part of our project. We look forward to our next training early 2022 in Greece.” Guillem CANALETA, Pau Costa Foundation.