Fire Simulation Drill Trains for Cross-Border Emergencies

Valencia de Alcántara (Cáceres) hosted a seminar on the Indra-led European Valkyries project, which included a fire simulation to standardize and test the harmonized protocols for the nomenclature, processes, equipment and operations developed in the project on a next-generation technology basis, comprising technologies such as 5G communication, big-data based predictive analytics and Artificial Intelligence, drones and digital twins.

The simulation included a fire with several hot spots, which began in a wooded area in the province of Cáceres and spread at high speed towards Marvao in Portugal, thus becoming a major fire affecting a large Portuguese natural park. The dense smoke caused a collision between a bus and a number of cars, leading to multiple victims. The aim of this solution is to assist inter-sectoral emergency teams in situations that affect more than one country, be they due to natural or man-made disasters, resulting in scenarios of great operational complexity with multiple victims to attend to.

The simulation involved over 400 participants, including the Valkyries project team, personnel from the UME (Military Emergency Unit), 112 Extremadura, Civil Protection Portugal, the Extremadura Health Service, the Red Cross and the Fire Department.

The seminar was attended by Nieves Villar, General Manager of Emergencies, Civil Protection and Interior, José Antonio García Muñoz, Deputy Government Representative in Cáceres, Alberto Piris, Mayor of Valencia de Alcántara, and Luis Costa, Vice-President of the Municipal Chamber of Marvao, as well as important officials from emergency organizations in Spain and Portugal. In addition to the simulation, there were also awareness-raising and training activities and the capabilities of the various organizations were presented.

Indra has developed a digital twin (Hybrid Twin Lab) for its iSafety emergency management solution, which was used as a command and control center to assist with the coordination of the different groups of personnel. This solution can be used to respond to all kinds of incidents and crises by offering centralized management of the available resources and tracking of the emergency resolution. During the simulation, the technological tools obtained real-time information at the cross-border forward command posts to facilitate the handling and coordination of the emergency.

In addition to the use case conducted this week, Valkyries is planning three other simulations in different European countries: a toxic spill in the Danube in Slovakia requiring coordination with Italian organizations, an earthquake on the border between Bulgaria and Greece and an offshore oil spill disaster caused by a collision in the North Sea, in which Norway, Sweden and Denmark will take part.