December 09 - 11, 2020 l Digital Summit
Focus Day - Innovation and Risk Management
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Registration and Networking
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm
Integrating Tools For Geospatial Modelling and Effective Resource Deployment
Marc Castellnou -
Wildland Fire Incident Commander and Fire Analyst,
Catalan Fire Service, Spain
What are the best ways to respond to wildfires in the field, and how do fire agencies across EU member states use tools to collaborate effectively? This session will see the Catalan Fire Service discuss their experiences and the tools that they employ in the hopes of establishing more efficient incident response, aerial firefighting coordination, deployment, equipment and vehicle logistics and best practices.
Marc Castellnou
Wildland Fire Incident Commander and Fire AnalystCatalan Fire Service, Spain
12:30 pm - 1:00 pm
Technologies for Fire Monitoring in the European Union
Mark Parrington -
Senior Scientist, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) Development Section, ECMWF,
Copernicus
This session will take a look at how the EU’s fire monitoring weather service, Copernicus, works with wildfire agencies and other stakeholders to help better detect and respond to wildfires across the continent.
Mark Parrington
Senior Scientist, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) Development Section, ECMWFCopernicus
1:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Mapping Fire Risk
Brian Schaffler -
Regional Fuels Program Manager, Eastern Region,
US Forest Service
This session will take a deep dive into the Forest Service’s Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA) program, which uses geospatial land fire data layers to identify polygons of risk for future fires, which are then targeted for controlled vegetation burns and prescribed fires. This session will help attendees gain a full picture of the geospatial tools available for managing our nation’s forests to help reduce and detect potential wildfires.
1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Lunch and Networking Break
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Special Sponsor Session
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Perspectives on interagency Challenges when facing Multiple Natural Disasters
Kevin Taylor -
Fire Chief,
Montecito Fire Protection District
Bernard Melekian - Assistant Executive for Public Safety, Santa Barbara County
The Montecito Fire Department participated in fire response during the 2017, 2018 and 2019 wildfire season will engage in a discussion on their experiences, what worked, what didn’t and ways for continuing collaboration across various state and federal agencies on wildfire suppression and emergency response. A special focus will be on the deadly debris flows that followed the 2018 fire season and how to respond effectively to similar combined natural disasters in the future.
3:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Special Sponsor Session
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Networking Break
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Protecting Lives - Risk Management in an Age of Megafires and COVID
Tom Harbour -
former National Director of Fire and Aviation Management,
US Forest Service
The safety of firefighters and emergency personnel during wildfires is paramount. This session will would intend to explore the ideas and tools needed for managing risk Challenges ranging from COVID-19 pandemic to the increased frequency of megafires will serve as a loadstar to explore some of the doctrine and fundamentals surrounding risk management.
4:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Risk Management: Utilities
Jonathan Woldermariam -
Director of Transmission & Distribution Engineering,
San Diego Gas & Electric
The wildland-urban interface is often the area where wildfires do the most damage to human life and property, and as such has been of particular focus to wildfire agencies and the utilities industry. This session will discuss the latest strategies, tools and technology available for effective risk management and risk reporting in hopes of spurring better planning and coordination among stakeholders in the wildland-urban interface.
Jonathan Woldermariam
Director of Transmission & Distribution EngineeringSan Diego Gas & Electric
