The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB) decided after the 2018 forest fire season that we needed to take a closer look at the future. What kind of scenarios would we possibly have to face in 10 or more years to come? Would we be able to meet the future threats with the concept and the capacities that we already had?
An Emergency Preparedness Analysis (EPA) was conducted. Different stakeholders cooperated in the process and together they agreed on a possible future picture of what may happen.
It is a scenario based methodical approach and starts in June/July in 2030+ years. The outcome showed contingency limits, lack of regional planning and coordination and that there will be a need for national strategic control.
This EPA is a part of our platform of information to all levels, agencies, and involved organizations that must prepare for the handling of more severe threats than we have ever seen before. This has given Norway an opportunity to build cross-sectoral competence and to improve our coordination on joint action concerning the work against wild land fires. The directorate is now on a national level working systematically on how to bring lessons identified from forest firefighting seasons into lessons learned and implemented.