7th Partner Meeting in Metz, France23 – 25 September, 2026
For its seventh partner meeting, the FlashFloodBreaker partnership travelled to Metz, the capital of the Moselle department. The city lies close to the borders of Luxembourg and Germany, which makes it a fitting place for a project that brings together partners from six countries.
Our hosts, the Sapeurs-Pompiers de la Moselle (SDIS 57), had prepared three busy days: two days of project work at the Novotel Metz Centre, an excursion to the roots of European cooperation, and a transnational training on water rescue. For further information visit our BLOG Section
Commandant Matthieu Oberhauser (SDIS 57) and project manager Marie-Édith Ploteau (EG) welcomed the partners and opened the meeting.
Flooding and Flood Risk Management in Moselle
Contrôleur Général Fabien Didier, Director of the Fire and Rescue Service of the Moselle department, gave the partners an overview of flooding in the region and how his teams prepare for it and respond.
The French GEMAPI mission
Since 2018, French municipalities and their associations have been responsible for managing aquatic environments and preventing floods. This mission is known as GEMAPI. Emilie Désœuvres and Geoffrey Rémy from the Syndicat mixte Moselle-Aval explained what it means in practice and where the challenges of implementation lie.
Two days of joint work
In four rounds of parallel breakout sessions, the partners moved forward on the project's joint activities, including:
Dashboards for crisis communication: early warning with DELFT-FEWS and data exchange
In the footsteps of a founding father of Europe
On Wednesday afternoon, the partners visited the House of Robert Schuman in Scy-Chazelles near Metz. Schuman's home has been preserved as it was in the 1950s, and it is where many of his ideas for European cooperation took shape. For a partnership that relies on exchange across borders, it was a reminder of where this kind of cooperation began.
For futher details about Schuman´s idelas and what Schuman's idea about european cohersion means for flood rescue today visit our
More about the training will follow in a separate post. A big thank you to SDIS 57 for their hospitality and the excellent organisation.