Enabling cross-boundary assessment, communication and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe

Programme 2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B Central Europe

Date of latest update: 2025-10-08

Description

Description (EN):

Throughout central Europe the threat of wildfires and resulting danger to people, livelihoods and the environment is increasing as a result of climate change. Recent wildfires in the border regions across central Europe have highlighted the need for better cooperation, communication and information, both in terms of land-management, community planning and the needs of emergency responders. Lack of detailed and up-to-date information about fuel types, fire propagation potential, access routes, fire-fighting resources and differing regional approaches to assessing the risk of wildfires presents a number of challenges in managing this threat. Wildfire CE’s primary objective is to enable border regions, the communities and landscapes within them, to prepare, respond and adapt to the increasing wildfire risk resulting from climate change. The project will change the way we assess and manage fire risk in the border regions and the wider territories. Through cooperation across borders, sharing knowledge and experience it will lead to a more integrated, targeted and inclusive approach in dealing with this increasing threat. Until now, the management of wildfire risk has been conducted at the territorial level, with mismatched approaches to fire warning levels, land management and communication of risk. The mapping of fuels and propagation potential is seldom conducted at the territorial level, let alone across borders. WildfireCE will map these fuels, fire behaviour and propagation potential across borders, it will identify where actions are necessary, what those actions are and it will implement those actions in Pilot Regions. The main outputs of Wildfire CE are designed to enable implementation in the Pilot Regions and to enable the transfer of the approaches to other regions. In Work Package 1 the activities identifying risk, best practice and spatial information will lead to the creation of a manual for assessing wildfire risk in CE border areas. This solution to the problem of limited information at a strategic level in managing risk will benefit local/regional authorities, sectoral agencies, infrastructure providers and of course the public at large. Work Package 2 uses the information from WP1 alongside additional work to identify risk and priority areas, better access and resource mapping for use in an on-line platform, which enables planning authorities and emergency services amongst others to better target actions and resources to reduce risk. This output will be tested as a Pilot Action in the Pilot Regions. The data within the platform will be available to the territories’ for integration in existing regional/national platforms. Based on the findings of WP1 and WP2, WP3 alongside regional stakeholders, will develop and implement action plans for the Pilot Regions. Finally, a strategy will be produced aimed specifically at transferring the findings, lessons and approaches to other regions and territories. The implementation of the outputs begins with the start of the project with collaboration with associated partners and stakeholders involved in the action plan development. Support for the project, its objectives and the expected changes is already clear in the types and responsibilities of the associated partners, who include regional/local authorities, firefighting services and land-managers, all of whom will benefit from the successful implementation of the outputs. With the help of those associated partners, their requirements for better wildfire risk management can be better represented in the outputs, enabling easier implementation and integration into existing management and planning structures. Finally, wildfires transcend boundaries alongside the risks associated with them, exposing communities and the environment to dangers that are currently managed on a territorial basis. To address this vital issue of the need for jointly developed solutions and to have the skills and knowledge to identify where those solutions are necessary requires a transnational approach. WildfireCE brings together partners and associated partners with the skills and the urgency to develop those solutions for risk assessment, managing and reducing that risk and to give land-managers, emergency services and authorities the tools to do so.

Actual Achievements (EN):

Project outputs: Strategy for the Application of Spatial and Weather Data for Assessing Wildfire Risk In Border Regions(EN)
Cooperation Across Borders(EN)
Pilot Site Testing of On-Line Wildfire Risk Platform(EN)
Wildfire CE Risk Platform(EN)
Regional Action Plans to Manage Wildfire Risk in Cross-Border Landscapes(EN)

Thematic information

Managing natural and man-made threats, risk management Cooperation between emergency services Climate change and biodiversity

Priority: (VI-B_CE_2) Cooperating for a greener central Europe

Priority specific objective: RSO2.4. Promoting climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention and resilience, taking into account eco-system based approaches

Priority policy objective (Interreg specific objective): PO2 A greener, low-carbon transitioning towards a net zero carbon economy and resilient Europe by promoting clean and fair energy transition, green and blue investment, the circular economy, climate change mitigation and adaptation, risk prevention and management, and sustainable urban mobility

Type of intervention: 059 Adaptation to climate change measures and prevention and management of climate related risks: fires (including awareness raising, civil protection and disaster management systems, infrastructures and ecosystem based approaches)

Partners (9)

Lead Partner: Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Regionalentwicklung

Partner’s ID if not PIC: DE328133575

Department: European Spatial Planning, Regional Development

Address: Archivstraße, 01097 Dresden, Germany

Department address: Archivstr. , 01097 Dresden, Germany

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Regional public authority

Website: http://www.smr.sachsen.de

Total budget: EUR 270 568.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 216 454.40

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 54 113.60

Contractors:

Name: core-consult GmbH&Co.KG
VAT registration or tax identification number: DE262152487
Name: DEZKA Decin s.r.o.
VAT registration or tax identification number: CZ27311066
Name: Eventariat Galle GbR
VAT registration or tax identification number: 210/153/16400

Provincia Autonoma di Trento

Name: Provincia Autonoma di Trento

Department: Dipartimento protezione civile, foreste e fauna / Servizio Foreste

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 997859662

Partner’s ID if not PIC: IT00337480224

Address: Piazza Dante, 38122 Trento, Italy

Department address: Piazza Dante, 38122 Trento, Italy

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Regional public authority

Website: https://www.provincia.tn.it/Amministrazione/Strutture-organizzative/Servizio-foreste

Total budget: EUR 155 400.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 124 320.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 31 080.00

Občina Ajdovščina

Name: Občina Ajdovščina

Department: Department for Economics and Development

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 936903116

Partner’s ID if not PIC: SI51533251 | Registration number | 5879914000 (EN)

Address: Cesta 5. maja , 5270 Ajdovščina, Slovenia

Department address: Cesta 5. maja , 5270 Ajdovščina, Slovenia

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Local public authority

Website: http://www.ajdovscina.si

Total budget: EUR 196 160.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 156 928.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 39 232.00

Contractors:

Name: MISENPLAS D. O. O.
VAT registration or tax identification number: SI83568956
Name: Avtoprevozništvo Frelih
VAT registration or tax identification number: SI70173583
Name: Muri d. o. o.
VAT registration or tax identification number: SI45388067

Ústav výzkumu globální změny AV ČR, v. v. i.

Name: Ústav výzkumu globální změny AV ČR, v. v. i.

Department: Domain of Climate Analysis and Modelling

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 921149249

Partner’s ID if not PIC: CZ86652079

Address: Bělidla, 60300 Brno, Czech Republic

Department address: Bělidla, 60300 Brno, Czech Republic

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://www.czechglobe.cz

Total budget: EUR 246 400.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 197 120.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 49 280.00

Česká informační agentura životního prostředí

Name: Česká informační agentura životního prostředí

Department: Unit of Geoinformatics

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 998954113

Partner’s ID if not PIC: CZ45249130

Address: Moskevská, 10100 Praha, Czech Republic

Department address: Moskevská, 10100 Praha, Czech Republic

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Sectoral agency

Website: http://www.cenia.cz

Total budget: EUR 238 126.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 190 500.80

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 47 625.20

Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, Department für Bautechnik und Naturgefahren

Name: Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, Department für Bautechnik und Naturgefahren

Department: Department of Forest- and Soil Sciences, Institute of Silviculture

Partner’s ID if not PIC: ATU16285008

Address: Gregor-Mendel-Straße, 1180 Vienna, Austria

Department address: Gregor-Mendel-Straße, 1180 Wien, Austria

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://boku.ac.at

Total budget: EUR 315 301.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 252 240.80

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 63 060.20

Gozdarski inštitut Slovenije

Name: Gozdarski inštitut Slovenije

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 997626765

Partner’s ID if not PIC: SI37808052

Address: Večna pot, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://www.gozdis.si/en/basic-information/

Total budget: EUR 211 680.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 169 344.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 42 336.00

Technische Universität Dresden

Name: Technische Universität Dresden

Department: Faculty of Environmental Sciences - Junior Professorship in Environmental Remote Sensing

Partner’s ID if not PIC: DE188369991

Address: Helmholtz Staße, 01062 Dresden, Germany

Department address: Helmholtzstr. , 01069 Dresden, Germany

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://tu-dresden.de/geo/envrs

Total budget: EUR 414 868.54

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 331 894.83

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 82 973.71

Università di Padova

Name: Università di Padova

Department: Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry

PIC (Participant Identification Code): 999995602

Partner’s ID if not PIC: IT00742430283

Address: Via 8 Febbraio, 35122 Padova, Italy

Department address: Via 8 Febbraio, 35122 Padova, Italy

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://www.unipd.it/

Total budget: EUR 197 400.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 157 920.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 80.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 39 480.00

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

PROVINCIA AUTONOMA di TRENTO

Enabling cross-boundary assessment, communication and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

Občina Ajdovščina

Enabling cross-boundary assessment, communication and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

Global Change Research Institute, CAS

Enabling cross-boundary assessment, communication and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

Czech Environmental Information Agency

Enabling cross-boundary assessment, communication and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna

Enabling cross-boundary assessment, communication and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

Gozdarski Institut Slovenije

Enabling cross-boundary assessment, communication and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

Technische Universität Dresden

Enabling cross-boundary assessment, communication and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

Saxon State Ministry for Regional Development

Enabling cross-boundary assessment, communication and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe

Partners and Projects info

University of Padua

Enabling cross-boundary assessment, communication and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Enabling cross-boundary assessment, communication and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe

Project acronym: Wildfire CE

Project ID: CE0200934

Project start date: 2024-06-01

Project end date: 2027-05-31

Project status: ongoing

Relevant linked projects:

Clim4Cast - Interreg CE (EN) | By February 2026 the Clim4Cast project aims to develop an operational regional platform for drought, heatwave, and fire weather monitoring and forecasting for Czechia, Slovakia, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, and an eastern portion of Germany. Within the Wildfire CE we will work towards extending the fire weather information to Italy (as one of the PP’s locations) and would add additional layers of information (fuel moisture, fuel types) to the Clim4Cast platform. (EN), SRC EDIH - Digital European Programme DIGITAL (EN) | With the purpose of managing a situation from one place, a one-stop-shop emergency management centre is being established at the Municipality premises; a day-to-day conference room will offer a transformation into a command post for situation managing where the entire crisis management hierarchy will be followed (data sources, communication, GDPR etc.). The system will dispose of all the collected data (e. g. weather situation, waters status, the location of emergency, fire-fighting and other civil protection vehicles, roads situation …) which will be enabled by appropriate software solution and hardware equipment. (EN), EMERGE, Austrian Waldfonds (EN) | Within the framework of EMERGE, the basics for an estimation of the behaviour of forest fires in Austrian forests will be developed. This will be based on i) empirical surveys of combustible biomass and forest structure, ii) estimates of biomass, fire ladders and gaps in the forest via remote sensing data, iii) burning experiments for in-situ observation and analysis of fire behaviour, and iv) the development of a forest fire simulator for Austrian conditions. The results of the project and the forest fire simulator could be rolled out to other Central European countries. (EN), Horizon FirEUrisk (EN) | Since April 2020, FirEUrisk harmonises and upgrades current European strategies for wildfire risk management by including biophysical and socioeconomic conditions for wildfire risk assessment. WildfireCE builds upon the Integrated Strategy for Wildfire Risks Management which is developed in FirEUrisk. Datasets and methods developed for fire risk assessment, reduction and adaptation will be exploited and adapted to the specific local conditions in central Europe. (EN), FIRE-RES - H2020 Green Deal Call (EN) | As the follow-on project to FirEUrisk, FIRE-RES develops and integrated fire management strategy to efficiently and effectively address extreme wildfire events in Europe. The project included 34 innovation actions, based on prevention and preparedness, detection and responses, and restoration and adaptation. In addition, the project has 11 living labs that demonstrate and deploy innovations, integrating the public sector, academia, private companies and citizens. Approaches for the mapping and validation of fuel types and properties developed within FIRE-RES will be adopted for Central Europe. (EN), Firelogue (EN) | Firelogue brings together the European expertise on wildfire risk management and aims to enable a dialogue between EU-funded projects. Wildfire CE will join the Firelogue community to increase its network of stakeholders beyond the core project group and associated partners and to exchange knowledge, experiences and developments for wildfire risk management in Europe in order to implement outputs in central European border regions, their communities and landscapes, to prepare, respond and adapt to the increasing wildfire risk. (EN), CROSSIT SAFER - Interreg ITALIA - SLOVENIJA (EN) | The CROSSIT SAFER initiative was a cross-border cooperation between Slovenia and Italy for a safer region recently concluded among several partners in the local territories. The main goal was to work with the public authorities and key stakeholders in order to coordinate activities of prevention, preparedness, and response to natural emergencies across borders. The main outcome of the project was to develop a cross-border protocol for harmonizing measures in the event of natural disasters by providing training programs to the civil protection agencies, fire service, and municipalities in both countries. All the knowledge and experiences provided and gained by the partners were used to improve forest fire early warning systems and damage assessment. (EN), ALP FFIRS - Alpine Space (EN) | The Alpine Forest Fire Warning System project aimed to improve fire prevention actions in Alpine areas, considering the effects of climate change and creating a common warning system between partners from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, and Slovenia. The complex interactions of the fire regime in Alpine areas due to fuel, topographical, ignition, meteorological, and social conditions are necessary to create a collaborative work. Therefore, the project has built a network in Alpine areas to reduce impacts caused by forest fires on the basis of shared policies of risk management and prevention and promotes mutual aid in prevention, training, and active combat actions. (EN), HOLISTIC - Adriatic IPA (EN) | The Adriatic holistic forest fire protection project aimed to strategic goals, being the strengthening of fire protection and emergency management policies, through the reinforcement of operational and functioning modalities in response to calamitous events, and to the implementation of actions related to seismic risk aimed at creating a permanent tool for prevention, control and management of damages to strategic public buildings. In particular, the project improved the accessibility and use of spatial, static, and dynamic data on terrestrial, meteorological, and sociological features underlying potential fire hazards. Including activities related to improving the Forest Fire Danger Index, which is currently used by the civil protection section. (EN), STEM - PAT-SF (EN) | The Land Surveying and Monitoring System project is an initiative funded by the Autonomous Province of Trento and coordinated by the Forest and Wildlife Service. The goal was to develop an information system for archiving , processing and dissemination of tele-detected information useful for planning process management and territorial monitoring. As an outcome of the project, a plugin tool for an open-source QGIS environment was developed for land classification and estimation of forest parameters. This input can be used for the metrics that are useful to simulate forest fires, such as biomass, height, density and structures, which can be supported by the LiDAR data that was acquired to the entire region. (EN)

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 2 245 903.54

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 1 796 722.83

Total EU funding (co-financing rate): 80.00%

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 1 796 722.83. Co-financing rate, 80.00%.

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

(bullets are inserted automatically and may be incorrectly placed)

Deliverables:

Report on availability and assessment of data
Access and Resource Mapping
Fuel Mapping and Validation (Pilot Sites)
Fuel Mapping and Validation (Pilot Regions)
Fire Behaviour Modelling
Providing fire weather/danger reanalysis and forecast
Mapping Fuel Moisture
Fuel Moisture Validation
Report on Assessment of cross-border differences in fire danger levels and Roadmap to harmonisation
Workshop with weather services and stakeholders
Report on Best Practice for Managing Risk, People and Nature
Strategy for the Application of Spatial & Weather Data for Assessing Wildfire Risk in Border Regions
Reports on the legislative frameworks related to managing wildfire risk
Mapping of Risk Areas in Pilot Regions
Public Education
Draft Wildfire Risk Assessment Platform
Pilot Site Testing
Wildfire Risk Assessment Platform
Training and Validation Event
Reports and Mapping of Risk Areas and Opportunities for Improved Management of Wildfire Risk
Requirements for Action Plans
Workshop and Draft Action Plan Framework for Pilot Regions
Final Action Plans for Pilot Regions and Workshop
Strategy for Transferring Cross-Border Wildfire Planning to Other Regions and Wider CE Space
Protocols with potential transfer partners
Final Conference and Central European Wildfire Symposium

Contribution to wider strategies and policies:

EUStrategyAlpineRegion This project will contribute to “research on regional and transboundary adaptation and standard data and protocols for risk assessment” Action 8 from the Action Plan for the Alpine Region arising from the Strategy.
EUStrategyDanubeRegion Whilst not all the participating project partners belong to the Danube Region, the project contributes directly to the Priority Area 05 Environmental Risk of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region through its actions to increase cross-border cooperation between disaster response organisations. This is in addition to its impact in protecting the landscapes, air, soils and biodiversity (Priority Area 06) of the border regions. Two of the project Pilot Regions sit within the Danube catchment.
TerritorialAgenda2030 The Agenda calls for place-based responses and cooperative actions to address the impacts of climate change, recognising that vulnerability varies in the regions and identifies wildfires as an increasing risk attributed to climate change. This project has a primary focus on the cross-border regions, where vulnerability and exposure to those risks is increasing. Not only does the project directly tackle the issue of wildfire but also it contributes directly to protecting air, soil and water quality and natural and cultural landscapes, actions also recognised within the Agenda
Other The project contributes directly to the EU Forest Strategy 2030 through its approach to risk management and reducing the likelihood of loss of forest diversity, carbon emissions, socio-economic costs and ecosystem services and protecting people and their property.
EuropeanGreenDeal Wildfire CE addresses the European Green Deal topics directly, as climate change and environmental degradation directly affect the factors related to fire danger, i.e. weather, moisture, climate, and fuel distribution. Due to this, fire return time and spatial location will not be the same as before. Better management of fire risk across Central Europe will contribute to the well-being and health of citizens and future generations by limiting the probability of occurrence, improving response strategies and mitigating the impact on people and biodiversity. Wildfire CE will also touch a key Green Deal aspect, which is to train citizens in using new approaches to mapping and interpreting factors related to fire risk, thus adding skills that will be relevant in future jobs.

Programme Common Output Indicator:

RCO 084 - Pilot actions developed jointly and implemented in projects, Measurement unit:
RCO 116 - Jointly developed solutions, Measurement unit:
RCO 083 - Strategies and action plans jointly developed, Measurement unit:
RCO 087 - Organisations cooperating across borders, Measurement unit:

Programme Common Result Indicator:

RCR 084 - Organisations cooperating across borders after project completion, Measurement unit:
RCR 104 - Solutions taken up or up-scaled by organisations, Measurement unit:
RCR 079 - Joint strategies and action plans taken up by organisations, Measurement unit:

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSALP

EUSALP Priority (Policy) area / Horizontal action:

EUSALP Degree of compliance:

Project part of European Union Macro-Regional or Sea Basin Strategy: EUSDR

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B Central Europe

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2025-10-08

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

100 / 100 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

1 013 / 1 011 (100.2%)

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Enabling cross-boundary assessment, communication and management of wildfire risks in Central Europe

Description

Thematic information

Partners (9)

Partners map

Summary

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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