An Cosantóir

www.military An Cosantóir July / August 2025 www.military.ie/magazine www.military STRONGER TOGETHER STRONGER TOGETHER "Fighting Fire with Innovation: The EU Modex Exercise and the Future of Wildfire Response" On 26th March 2025, the Irish Defence Forces took part in a landmark civil protection exercise that tested not only national emergency response capabilities but also our ability to integrate seamlessly with European partners in a complex, multi-agency environment. The EU Modular Exercise (MODEX), hosted in the Wicklow Mountains, marked the first time Ireland led such an event under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. For the Defence Forces and the RTI Office, the exercise was a critical opportunity to validate operational readiness, showcase innovation, and reinforce our commitment to European interoperability. WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE EXERCISE? EU Modex 2025 was designed around a high-impact, fast-moving wildfire scenario in the vicinity of the Wicklow Mountains. The exercise simulated a rapidly escalating fire event threatening critical infrastructure, natural heritage sites, and civilian populations. The scenario required the coordinated response of multiple national agencies, including the deployment of Host Nation Support (HNS) protocols and the integration of international Civil Protection Modules. The exercise was led by Wicklow County Council and supported by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM), with funding and oversight from the European Commission's Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO). The Defence Forces' participation in EU Modex Wildfire Firefighting Exercise in the Wicklow Mountains demonstrated the value of military support to civil authorities in times of national emergency. Our personnel operated alongside An Garda Síochána, the Irish Coast Guard, Civil Defence, Mountain Rescue Ireland, and fire services from Dublin and Wicklow. Each agency contributed in their own areas of expertise, providing evacuation centres for displaced personnel, search & rescue, area cordoning, temporary mortuary services, high- volume pumping stations for ground assets and aerial firefighting. The Air Corps played a pivotal role demonstrating their firefighting capabilities, deploying AW 139 Helicopters equipped with Bambi buckets, to perform targeted water drops on simulated fire zones. These operations required close coordination with ground commanders to ensure accuracy while avoiding hazards in the environment. Furthermore, the Air crews provided aerial reconnaissance to demonstrate real time intelligence on fire spread, helping incident commanders make strategic decisions. While all assets demonstrated excellent capability, the glue that held them together and assisted the responders in focusing their efforts was DECAMAP's. INNOVATION IN THE FIELD - DECAMAP'S DECAMAP, originally called Co-Pilot AI, was developed through the Research Ireland Defence Innovation Challenge. The team led by Prof. Tim McCarthy from Maynooth University, rose to the challenge posed by the Air Corps in 2021: "How do we enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the fire extinguishing capability of rotary-wing aircraft". The Challenge fund which is co-financed with Research Ireland, awarded the DECAMAP team €1.2M in funding to develop their solution over a 2-year stage gated process. During this period, the research team at Maynooth were paired with a Defence Liaison from the Air Corps, Comdt Jay O'Reilly (Retd). His guidance helped to deliver critical end-user perspectives on the challenge and ensured the solution proposed was feasible and viable. The net result provided a common operational picture to aid emergency responders in predicting the growth and movement of wildfires to determine where best to deploy their resources. Since finishing the Defence Innovation Challenge program, DECAMAP has received interest from global stakeholders such as CAL FIRE in California and the Spanish Air Force whom tackle wildfire events on a frequent and large scale. During EU MODEX, Prof. Tim McCarthy and his team deployed drones equipped with multispectral and thermal cameras to detect fire hotspots invisible to the naked eye, allowing decision-makers to pinpoint flare-ups before they spread. Simultaneously, 8 | ARTICLE BY CAPT EAMONN HENNESSY PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CAPT EAMONN HENNESSY EU MODEX 2025 Showcases Multi-Agency Cooperation in Wildfire Response

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