First responders play a prominent and essential role in the everyday situations of all civil society; and among all services they provide are law enforcement, fire suppression, and emergency medical services (EMS). A fast and adequate response to emergencies in all three services can escalate rapidly and emergency responders might be able to do something to stop it if they get there timely.
Interdisciplinary team working and coordination is absolutely needed in case of big disasters. They everyday activities involve a lot of stressful situations and communication with vulnerable communities, people with special needs or disabilities. In addition, it involves many soft skills like decision making, proactiveness, stress resilience, negotiation skills, etc.
The use of advance tools like satellite image analysis can incorporate to their daily activities; but the need to be trained to make an effective use of the new tools is necessary.
Continuous training of first responders is a demanding procedure that can be provided under many tools. STRONG project proposes a series of online courses that tackle the training need of first responders under a transversal approach. The courses are grouped by theme, not by type of first responders.The ambition of this project is to provide first responders a set of basic skills to be able to provide an effective response to a bunch of circumstances.The online courses will be complemented by a digital tool to create an European Network of First Responders. Through this tool they will be able to connect; share experiences; identify best practices and foster cooperation among first responders team at European level. The challenges they face are usually not circumscribed to a sole territory, so it is crucial to promote the cooperation at European level.
