On 17 January the CEI-ES hosted the Kick off meeting of the project NAMIRG - North Adriatic MIRG (Maritime Incident Response Group), funded under the European Commission Directorate-General For European Civil Protection And Humanitarian Aid Operations – DG ECHO.
The meeting was attended by all project partners who gathered to agree upon the first steps to be taken towards the project's successful implementation. The Partners - representing the fire brigades of Trieste, Koper and Istria - reached a common understanding on the analysis of the existing protocols, procedures and equipment for fire-protection interventions.
Each partner will now address their national, regional or local institution to collect available data and provide feedback for the delivery of the first report. The latter represents the basis for the NAMIRG guidelines providing tangible information on how the group will be created, governed and how it will act. It is considered as a tool the three countries could use in case of fire incidents in the sea. The selected staff from these three countries will be trained by selected experts (i.e. a Fincantieri representative on fire protection aspects, Finnish experts and some experts form other European MIRG groups).
The final stage of the training will be made up of an exercise at open sea, with the entire group in action.
The CEI-ES in its capacity as lead partner will be responsible for the project management, consisting mostly of administrative, financial and communication tasks. The Partners are meeting again in July to evaluate the work carried out and proceed with the establishment of the study group and elaboration of the guidelines.
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NAMIRG aims at fighting incidents on ships at sea and at limiting their devastating effects on the lives of the crew, passengers and for the environment. The project started in January 2018 and will last until 31 December 2019.