Role in FIRE-ADAPT: co-organisers of the Argentina Study Hub
Organisation: Secretaría de Protección Civil y Gestión de Riesgos de la Provincia de Santa Fe
Country: Argentina
What motivated us to join FIRE-ADAPT
Francisco: Due to the fires in the Paraná Delta, in 2020 – 2021, we contacted Adriana Millán, a researcher from CONICET and UNRaf who works with Brián Ferrero. She was gathering information for her research, and we were working on a bill that was being introduced. I asked her to do the introduction, and there we established a work friendship. Afterwards, Adriana and Bibiana Bilbao offered us to participate. We found it very interesting because at the moment we are going through a cultural change when it comes to fire. So, FIRE-ADAPT is, neither more nor less, than the key to all that information so that we can transfer it and begin to make transformations, both from the bottom, with what is the response corps (the brigades that we have in the Secretaría), and at the political level. In this way, we will be able to change to that vision of integrated fire management and that not all fire is bad.
About our secondment at PCF during the project´s gathering at the Spain Study Hub
What the objectives of our secondment were
Darío: To gather material and tools, take them to Argentina, and transfer them to our institution to be able to teach and share them with our colleagues. The issue of the change of mentality that Francisco mentions is quite important, because we were mostly used to response and extinction. We took very good things for this.
How it benefited PCF and us
Darío: It benefited both of us because we made an exchange. We contributed how we work. In addition, Francisco gave a talk at CTFC on how we are positioned. We also took a lot of things with us, both from the organisation and from the different speakers to find out how the other colleagues in the consortium are doing.
How similar and different the realities of wildfires in Argentina and Spain are
Francisco: They are totally different realities because of the type of topography and fuel they have. Also, because of the type of study that is available on one side or the other in terms of fire behaviour, and because of the resources they have in Spain for the response. In addition, our response work is very different. All this and the links with the PCF and all those in the consortium, help us to nourish and grow. In fact, one of the great things that caught our attention is that, having Brazil next door, we came to Europe to learn about many things that Brazil is implementing today and that are really good and interesting.
Catalonia and the Paraná Delta have in common the speed with which fires are spreading, and these famous uncontrollable fires that are called in Spain of sixth generation. Those differences are useful for both of us to enhance our work. Catalonia can learn from the fires of the Delta, where there really is a lot to discover. We want to draw on the experience that Catalonia already has and its vision of fire.
What caught our attention about Spain
Francisco: As for fire, it’s basically how they stop in 2023 to look back at 500 years ago to understand the fire that’s going to occur in the coming months. That is something that you don’t see in Argentina. We go to put out the current fire, to suffocate the problem that you are seeing with your eyes and nothing else. This idea of having the science in place is something that we are trying to integrate into the brigade, the team of the people in charge of fire management. We always look from now on. When we went to Spain, we sat down and they told us about when the ancestors worked on the land, that is, to understand how the land worked at the time for what is to come.
Darío: Culturally, everything: education, transit, etc. There are many things to consider and learn there (in Argentina), such as respecting speeds or the respect for pedestrians; they make you go on the pedestrian walkway. They knock you over there (in Argentina) if you don’t pay attention! And then, cleanliness. You don’t see things lying around, like papers; that has a big impact on the environment.
This is us
Favourite food: Darío: asado. Francisco: locro.
Favourite film: Darío: John Wick, by Chad Stahelski. Francisco: El secreto de sus ojos, by Juan José Campanella.
Favourite singer or band: Darío: Melendi. Francisco: Los Palmeras y Santefesinos.
Superpower we´d like to have: Darío: bring peace to the whole world, that is, that there are no wars or anything like that. Francisco: bring tranquility to our country.
Someone we admire: Darío: Keanu Reeves. Francisco: Manu Ginóbili y Leo Messi.
In Argentina, we´d take you to: Darío: tour Santa Fe. Francisco: get to know all our traditions in Santa Fe.