HASICSKY ZACHRANNY SBOR MORAVSKOSLEZSKEHO KRAJE

Their core work

The Fire Rescue Brigade of the Moravian-Silesian Region is the professional emergency response authority for one of the Czech Republic's most industrialized regions, covering chemical plants, mining operations, and forested terrain around Ostrava. They bring front-line operational expertise to EU research projects — not as laboratory researchers but as the end-users who test and validate emergency technologies in real field conditions. Their contribution to consortia is direct access to live rescue operations, trained responders, and established protocols for hazardous material incidents and large-scale fire events. They translate research outputs into operational practice and provide critical feedback on what actually works during emergencies.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (2015–2019), the brigade's focus was entirely on chemical and toxic hazard response — rapid triage, protective engineering, and hazmat protocols typical of an industrial region like Ostrava. By their second project (2021–2025), the focus shifted decisively toward climate-driven disasters: wildfire management, forest landscape monitoring, 3D terrain modeling, and big-data platforms. This mirrors a broader European trend of emergency services being drawn into climate adaptation research as wildfires and extreme weather events increase in frequency and reach.

This brigade is moving from traditional industrial hazmat response toward climate-driven disaster management, positioning itself as an operational testbed for wildfire technology and data-driven emergency platforms — a profile that will be increasingly relevant as Central European fire seasons intensify.

How they like to work

They participate exclusively as consortium partners, never as project coordinators, which is consistent with their role as an operational end-user rather than a research driver. With 73 unique partners across 2 projects, they work within large, multi-country consortia (averaging 36+ partners per project), typical of Innovation Actions where multiple operational agencies validate technology across different national contexts. This suggests they are comfortable in large collaborative structures and contribute by providing real-world testing environments rather than leading scientific direction.

Despite only two projects, the brigade has accumulated 73 unique consortium partners across 21 countries — an unusually wide network for an operational public body of this size. This breadth reflects the large, pan-European consortia typical of security and climate Innovation Actions, where emergency services from many countries participate together.

What sets them apart

Unlike university research groups or technology SMEs, this brigade brings something irreplaceable to a consortium: a functioning regional emergency service with real incidents, real responders, and real operational constraints. For technology developers building emergency management tools, having this brigade as a partner means validation in a demanding industrial region with both chemical hazard history and proximity to forested terrain subject to wildfire risk. Their dual exposure — toxic industrial incidents and climate-driven wildfires — makes them unusually versatile as an operational validation partner within a single Central European context.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SILVANUS
  The larger of the two projects (EUR 362,500) and the more recent, it places the brigade at the intersection of climate adaptation, 3D spatial modeling, and big-data emergency platforms — a significant thematic expansion beyond traditional fire rescue.
• TOXI-triage
  Reflects the brigade's industrial heritage in the Ostrava region, providing operational expertise in CBRN rapid triage engineering within a high-stakes, multi-hazard environment.