Training and
Operations
Specialised training in wildfires: Practical learning for safer suppression.
First stage of the EGIF programme
The EGIF programme is an example of a wildfire training framework to empower organisations, train professionals, exchange knowledge and collaborate between experts from different organisations and countries.
“This is a unique project. We have sent a team of experts from Bombers de la Generalitat de Catalunya, ANEPC (Portugal) e INFOCA (Andalucía) to Chile, who, under the umbrella and coordination of PCF, made up the EGIF team together with personnel from CONAF and regional brigades. And we have done it to exchange work methodologies, before an emergency occurs and not to respond to a specific emergency.”- Juan Caamaño, Programme Coordinator and Head of the PCF’s Training and Operations Area.
EGIF is a three-month technical assistance programme, which began in January 2022, during the Chilean fire campaign. The final objective of the programme is to design a knowledge management system in which experiences in wildfires become elements of experience and training within the organisation itself, and thus empower and grow CONAF. Participapants in the EGIF programme worked on the organisation and management of a wildfire emergency; air operations, given the increase in air resources in Chile after the 2017 fires; fire analysis and the use of technical fire as a fire prevention and extinction tool.
Other training
Training in wildfire behaviour analysis.
Third edition of this conference to analyse the behaviour and potential of fires and how to develop effective and safe strategies and tactics based on such analysis. The previous editions were focused on meteorology (2020) and fire management (2021). See the conference programme here.
Training in integrated fire management
Date: May 11-17
Location: Parque Nacional Otuquis, Santa Cruz (Bolivia)
Entidad promotora: Servicio Nacional de Áreas Protegidas (SERNAP), Bolivia
Introductory course to prescribed burning, where the different ignition techniques were worked on, as well as what a burning plan is and the objectives of the use of fire.
Forest Camp on wildfires
We participated as instructors in one of the workshops that were carried out in this activity targeted at firefighters. The Forest Camp is based on practical exercises that participants must carry out in different plots that propose activities related to the prevention and suppression of wildfires.
Course on fire analysis
Online course to introduced attendees to fire analysis, methodology and tools to use to anticipate scenarios. It featured participants from different organisations in Indonesia, from universities to emergency services.
Course on prescribed burning
Date: October 3-7
Location: Mollet del Vallès, Barcelona (Spain)
Entity: Institut de Seguretat Pública de Catalunya (ISPC) and Pau Costa Foundation (Spain)
Training aimed at consolidating basic learning to plan and execute a prescribed burn. Use of technical fire in simple fire operations; basically, definition of perimeter and widening burns to flanks and tails.
Basic course on technical fire management
Date: October 17-21
Location: Gran Canaria (Spain)
Entity: Pau Costa Foundation (Spain)
We showed the use of fire as a forest management tool in preventive tasks and in wilfire suppression operations. We provided knowledge, skills and abilities for integration into a unit specialised in prescribed burning, with sufficient qualification to use fire in prevention and suppression actions.
TREX Andalucía
The PCF’s Training and Operations team carried out this knowledge exchange and professional development in prescribed burning. TREX Andalucía objectives were training in fire management; management of vegetation to reduce the effects of fires; the exchange of experiences between participants from different groups and extinction services; cooperation between agencies and the promotion of knowledge in fire ecology and its dissemination to society.