Reducing the number and the impact of forest fires, protecting people, natural environment and properties, and promoting fire prevention among rural communities in Adriatic regions: these are the purposes of the Holistic projects, realized by Planetek Hellas for the Decentralised Administration of Peloponnese, Western Greece & Ionian with the support of Region of Ionian Islands.
Furthermore, the project provides actions related to earthquakes risk aimed at establishing a permanent instrument for preventing, controlling and managing strategic public buildings from earthquakes’ damage risk. The general strategic objective is the prevention and mitigation of the natural risks, with special focus on wildfire risks, through the improvement, promotion and strengthening of institutional capabilities in implementing policies, procedures and coordination mechanisms aiming at reducing the causes of potential start of natural breakdown as well as at improving the prevention and mitigation activity.
Forest fires represent a constant threat to ecological systems, infrastructure, economy and human lives.
It is then necessary to undertake joint actions towards the increase in the level of protection against forest fires. The Holistic approach to forest fire prevention is based on two topics, trying to integrate advanced forest fire protection and prevision measures, economic use of biomass, tourism and recreation, based on advanced forest fire monitoring system conceived of a network of automatic video surveillance and meteorological monitoring stations, supported by advanced regional systems for micro-location forest fire risk indices calculation and simulation of forest fire propagation and behaviour.
Organised system for collection of forest looping after forest fire thinning and clearing, its cutting and finally its use as a commercial biomass fuel in communal district heating and cogeneration plants, or in individual heating system of public buildings. Furthermore, it includes the systematic clearance of forest corridors as not only easy access routes for firefighters, but also as routes for sport, recreation and village eco-tourism.
Benefits of Holistic Forest Fire Protection model are in all forest fire stages: Before Fire, During Fire and After Fire.
Strategic buildings’ Earthquake risk assessment, prevention and monitoring aims to establish instruments for monitoring Strategic Public Buildings (SPBs) (D.G.R. n.438), from earthquakes’ damage risks and develop joint proposals for legislative and institutional regulations for SPBs’ protection, based on the “protection of SPBs from earthquake’s risks”.
The action focuses on the monitoring of changes in SPBs’ vulnerability over a defined time period, due to the natural degradation of material properties and cumulative damage from continuous low-level seismic activity in the two areas.