(Cross-border cOoperation in Managing Emergency)
OVERC.O.M.E. project has been co-funded by the European Union Mechanism of Civil Protection (UCPM) under the Call UCPM – 2022 – PP .
OVERC.O.M.E. develops from 2023 till 2025 Prometheus System for CBRN emergencies and as a Virtual Operational Room for general interventions at the border. It enhances Prometheus System already developed by Prometheus Project till 2021.
It has been implemented by a consortium of Italian and French end-users: the Italian National Fire and Rescue Service (CNVVF), the French Departmental Fire and Rescue Service of Savoie (SDIS73), together with the International CBRNE Institute (ICI) of Belgium. The coordinator of the project is the CNVVF. One of the objectives of the project is to improve the quality of CBRN operations, enhancing the coordination to take the “right decision” and facilitating the interoperability toward a “Team Europe” approach as well as to Improve the cooperation for any type of general joint Intervention at the border.
Thus, OVERC.O.M.E. intends to improve current tools, covering the lack of procedures and standard operational forms in CBRN, to harmonise the type of data useful to the coordination of an emergency and facilitate the flow of information to respond to the operational needs, especially when more than one country is involved. The project takes into consideration the standard international model actually used in USAR operations (INSARAG Guidelines 2020) which is intended to be the leverage to improve standardisation in CBRN scope, applying a methodology that comes from USAR operations as a possible model. The project will test the CBRN forms and the CBRN procedures during two exercises in 2024 to enhance mutual cooperation in a scenario simulating an intervention at the border between Italy and France and will enhance the already available data management system in USAR operations, named “Prometheus” that could also be used by the teams during a CBRN emergency.
In the frame of protocols of cross border cooperation (CBC) already existing between the Ministries of the Interior of France and Italy signed in 2007, OVERC.O.M.E. is also aimed at enhancing a virtual operational room between Turin (Italy) and Chambéry (France) to improve daily operations at the border and make it as a model for other borders’ joint action. Thus, S.O.F.I.A. which stands for Operational Room France Italy Alpine Arch (Sala Operativa Francia Italia Arco Alpino/Salle Opérationnelle France Italie Arc Alpin) is developed In the frame of OVERC.O.M.E. to facilitate the coordination of cross-border interventions in terms of: a) correct classification of an event; b) unambiguous address; c) standard acronyms for equipment and resources; d) translation on real time of additional information.
Prometheus is a Management System for the coordination of complex emergencies, aimed at managing information and coordinating resources conveyed through digital forms, re-consultable, visible to all actors in real time. The user who connects to Prometheus sees 3 access buttons, respectively to the USAR area, the CBRN area and the S.O.F.I.A. area. Access to one or more areas of the system depends on the user’s account type and the type of intervention.
Prometheus for S.O.F.I.A. (Salle Opérationnelle France Italie Arc Alpin – Sala Operativa Francia Italia Arco Alpino) The aim of S.O.F.I.A. is facilitating the exchange of resources and information among Fire Departments from different states that have to cooperate in general transborder interventions. Toward this aim, the following sections and internal tools have been designed and implemented in S.O.F.I.A.:
• an Alert System which, following the opening of an intervention, sends out a double notification: a phone pre-recorded message in the language of the recipient and an e-mail to the mailing list and phone numbers configurated in the system;
• a chat between two Fire Departments involved with simultaneous translation is also present in the System;
• a Log-book that automatically records the actions in S.O.F.I.A. with the possibility to insert manually logs and that permit to track the intervention and responsibilities;
• a map area with competences areas that permit to identify the event location and through it the involved Fire Departments;
• function of dispatch of a specific resource is possible starting from the request form and vehicles and teams are sent according to the request form and availability.
Outputs OG and Int Outline:
- Operating guidelines to improve coordination and cooperation
- International Outline of the operating guidelines to improve coordination and cooperation
Presentations at the online Final Conference on 18th March 2025:
