{"id":7352,"date":"2026-03-05T22:16:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kemea.gr\/?p=7352"},"modified":"2026-03-06T07:24:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T07:24:55","slug":"press-release-kick-off-meeting-of-the-forest-fire-struga-ffs-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kemea.gr\/en\/press-release-kick-off-meeting-of-the-forest-fire-struga-ffs-project\/","title":{"rendered":"PRESS RELEASE: Kick-Off Meeting of the FOREST FIRE STRUGA (FFS) Project"},"content":{"rendered":"
PRESS RELEASE<\/u><\/strong><\/h5>\n

Kick-Off Meeting of the FOREST FIRE STRUGA (FFS) Project<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Project No. 101256953 | FFS –<\/strong> FOREST FIRE STRUGA | Call: UCPM-2025-KAPP-EX<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 06 February 2026, the Kick-Off Meeting (KoM) of the project FOREST FIRE STRUGA (FFS)<\/strong> was successfully held at the premises of the European Commission Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) in Brussels.<\/p>\n

The FFS project, funded under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM-2025-KAPP-EX), represents a major Full-Scale Exercise (FSX) initiative aims at strengthening cross-border cooperation, operational preparedness, and regional resilience against devastating wildfires in the Western Balkans. Particular emphasis is placed on North Macedonia and the cross-border area of the Ohrid Lake Region, bordering Albania and Greece.<\/p>\n

The project aims to strengthen the resilience of cross-border regions against large-scale wildfires; to enhance bilateral and multilateral cooperation among participating countries; to Improve coordination, communication, and operational standards in alignment with UCPM procedures; to support North Macedonia\u2019s continued alignment with UCPM standards and contribute to ongoing and future EU\/DG ECHO resilience initiatives in the Balkans.<\/p>\n

The FOREST FIRE STRUGA consortium brings together a robust partnership of public authorities, civil protection agencies, academic institutions, and specialised security organisations: DIREKCIJA ZA ZASTITA I SPASUVANJE NA REPUBLIKA MAKEDONIJA (Coordinator) \u2013 North Macedonia, QENDRA PER ZHVILLIMIN DHE DEMOKRATIZIMIN E INSTITUCIONEVE \u2013 Albania, CITIZENS’ ASSOCIATION VOLUNTARY FIREFIGHTING SOCIETY BAJRAM MIFTARI SKOPJE \u2013 North Macedonia, MINISTARSTVO UNUTRASNJIH POSLOVA \u2013 Montenegro, RESCH CHRISTIAN \u2013 Austria, EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY \u2013 CYPRUS LTD \u2013 Cyprus, Kentro Meleton Asfaleias (KEMEA \u2013 Center for Security Studies) \u2013 Greece, AGJENCIA KOMBETARE E MBROJTJES CIVILE \u2013 Albania, and STOLICHNA OBSHTINA \u2013 Bulgaria.<\/p>\n

Within the framework of the FFS project, KEMEA will actively participate in the majority of the Work Packages (WPs); will contribute to operational planning, evaluation processes, and knowledge transfer activities; will lead and prepare the 2nd Training Event, to be organised in Greece in a cross-border operational environment. Participation in the FOREST FIRE STRUGA project represents a significant new challenge and strategic opportunity for KEMEA to further reinforce its contribution to regional resilience and cross-border civil protection cooperation in the Western Balkans and the broader area.<\/p>\n

KEMEA expresses its confidence in the successful implementation of all project activities and extends its best wishes for a productive, impactful, and sustainable execution of the FOREST FIRE STRUGA (FFS) project.<\/p>\n

For further information, please contact:
\nDr Nikolaos G. Kalapodis
\nProject Manager
\nn.kalapodis@kemea-research.gr<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism. Neither the European Union nor UCPM can be held responsible for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PRESS RELEASE Kick-Off Meeting of the FOREST FIRE STRUGA (FFS) Project   Project No. 101256953 | FFS – FOREST FIRE STRUGA | Call: UCPM-2025-KAPP-EX On 06 February 2026, the Kick-Off…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","iawp_total_views":71,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-european-programmes","category-latest-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kemea.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kemea.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kemea.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kemea.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kemea.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7352"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kemea.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7361,"href":"https:\/\/kemea.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7352\/revisions\/7361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kemea.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kemea.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kemea.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}