Between 2007 and 2018, 31% of all requests for assistance, through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, were for the response to forest fires. The forest fires hazard, as well as the extension of the fire season and the frequency and severity of fires, are likely to increase in the Mediterranean region. We can also observe that extreme weather conditions can affect a wider region of the European Union. In 2018, wildfires have heavily affected Greece, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, UK, as well as Latvia, a country in which wildfires have not been a concern in past years. These show the importance and the urgency to seriously invest in the prevention of forest fires. As the partners’ countries have a significant forest fire hazard, VOLinACT project aims to the dissemination of the necessity for forest fire prevention, utilizing the volunteerism of citizens through awareness-raising activities. Recruiting of new volunteers isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible. Our project aims to create specific volunteers’ profiles, who will be collaborating inside Volunteers’ Fire Protection Organizations (existing or going to be created in every country) for the optimization of the preparedness activities and, furthermore, for dealing with people's needs in the post-disaster phase. During the project period, volunteers of these profiles will be trained through e-learning sessions for working in an international environment, so as they could be available, not only during emergencies at the national level but also for supporting volunteers’ teams in other EU countries. We are going to create a website for potential firefighter volunteers, with information on how, why, and what. We will also create groups on social media so that trainees will have the chance to know each other during the project period and for better cooperation in case of an emergency. Also, we will create an innovative mobile application game, as a tool for assessment the volunteers’ competences as well as for self-evaluation. The main activities: - Mapping the skills and the competencies across the partners' organizations in relation to VOLinACT project. A map of skills will assist VOLinACT to find out what the project volunteers know and what they can do, to discover gaps or shortfalls in their knowledge and performance, and to plan and deliver effective learning solutions. - Creation of a VOLinACT toolkit that will be a set of training tools for adult learners keen on boosting their volunteering competences. - An OER platform will host the training modules in an e-book in PDF format. Its innovative content will drive productivity and sustainability for volunteers around the world. The target group will be volunteers who involved in activities during the project, but also volunteers who want to learn more in the field of fire protection. - Early warning the authorities for a fire hazard. - Training volunteers for being able to do logistic support to the firefighters and to the populations in a scenario of an emergency. - Better planning and coordination of response activities, at National and European, contributing to faster, reliable, and more effective EU response to forest fires. - Creation of a network of people and associations around Europe, for the continuation of exchanging ideas and training procedures for volunteers as Firefighters, an activity that enhances the sustainability of the project. The budget has been drafted in a transparent and collaborative way. The VOLinACT project assumes, beyond the volunteers’ training from the partners, the organization of: 1) four transnational partner meetings involving representatives from each partner, 2) a three-days Learning Teaching Training Activities (LTTA) in Italy, whose participants will bequeath the gained knowledge to citizens of their country.
The last years, the forest fires hazard, as well as the extension of the fire season and the frequency and severity of fires, are likely to increase in the Mediterranean region. We also observe that extreme weather conditions affect a wider region of the European Union. These show the importance and the urgency to seriously invest in the prevention of forest fires. As the partners’ countries have a significant forest fire hazard, VOLinACT project aims to disseminate the necessity for forest fire prevention, utilizing the volunteerism of citizens through awareness-raising activities. Recruiting new volunteers isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible. Our project aims to create specific volunteers’ profiles, who will be collaborating with Volunteers’ Fire Protection Organizations (existing or going to be created in every country) for the optimization of the preparedness activities and, furthermore, for dealing with people's needs in the post-disaster phase. During the project period, volunteers of these profiles trained through e-learning sessions for working in an international environment, so that they could be available, not only during emergencies at the national level but also for supporting volunteers’ teams in other EU countries.
According to EU Commission statistics, the total area burnt in Europe in 2018 was 1.2 million hectares. Forest fires accounted for 31% of all requests for assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The latest forest fire in Greece showed that we need more people informed about forest fires and more volunteers. Because the risk of fires is expected to increase due to climate change and partner countries have some forest population, it is vital to increase volunteerism. The main objective was to train volunteers in general, focusing mainly on forest protection and forest fire prevention. Experts properly trained volunteers, first on the actions to prevent forest fires and, in addition, how to locate a forest fire, how to determine its exact location on the map and how to guide the fire brigade to the starting point of the fire. VOLinACT provided the opportunity to train volunteers and initiated the creation of an international network of volunteers, both youth and adults using ICT.