FirEUrisk Symposium "Forest Fires in Central Europe – Preparing for a New Reality" 12. October 2022

FirEUrisk General Assembly and Symposium, Dresden, 12. October 2022

Forest Fires in Central Europe – Preparing for a New Reality

The Junior Professorship for Environmental Remote Sensing of TU Dresden is hosting from 10.-12. October 2022 the General Assembly of the FirEUrisk project (www.fireurisk.eu). An accompanying Symposium "Forest Fires in Central Europe – Preparing for a New Reality" will take place on the 12. October 2022. The Symposium is open for interested scientists and stakeholders involved in forest fire protection and fighting from central-European countries.

When? 12. October 2022, 8:00 - 16:00

Where? Bilderberg Bellevue Hotel Dresden, Große Meißner Str. 15, 01097 Dresden AND ONLINE

Registration: We can still offer a limited number of places if you are interested in attending the symposium. If you are interested, please register with .

Background and aims of the Symposium

Unprecedented forest fires occurred in Central Europe in 2022. In Central Europe, forest fires are common in lowland pine forests such as in Brandenburg/Germany. Forest fire protection has a long history in those regions and fire danger assessment and as such monitoring has been in place for decades. However, prolonged periods of drought and heat waves in 2022 triggered fires in all parts of Central Europe.

There is scientific consensus that prolongations and intensifications of hot and dry fire weather conditions, caused by human-made climate change, led to unprecedented weather conditions increasing the likelihood of fire occurrence and ability to spread. Climate scenarios suggest that the intensity of such fire weather will continue to increase in Central Europe. Hence, all regions in Central Europe are facing the need to develop, improve or adapt the management of wildfire risks.

The FirEUrisk project, supported by the European Commission in the framework of its Horizon 2020, is addressing the problem of integrated management of forest fires, mainly those that occur under extreme condition and endanger the life of citizens, especially considering the expected future changes in the environment and in the society. The aim of FirEUrisk is to develop a holistic, risk-wise integrated strategy of fire management in Europe. This strategy includes all phases of forest fire protection: fire risk assessment, mitigation and adaption. FirEUrisk is also aiming to transfer knowledge and experiences from the fire-prone Mediterranean countries to Central and Northern Europe.

The Symposium „Forest Fires in Central Europe – Preparing for a New Reality“ will connect for the first time leading European experts in fire science with leading representatives from research, forestry, and fire brigades from Central Europe. Consortium members from FirEUrisk will present recent technological developments to assess, mitigate and adapt to fire risks. Practitioners from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic will present the challenges of managing changing wildfire risks in Central Europe and their needs for an improved management (assessment, mitigation and adaption) of those risks.

Invited speakers

• Dr. Annika Busse, Saxon Switzerland National Park Administration, Staatsbetrieb Sachsenforst, Nationalparkverwaltung Sächsische Schweiz, Bad Schandau (Germany)
• Prof. Emilio Chuvieco, Department of Geology, Geography and the Environment, University of Alcala, Alcalá de Henares (Spain)
• JProf. Dr. Matthias Forkel, TU Dresden, Faculty of Environmental Science, Institute for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Dresden (Germany)
• Robert Krüger, TU Dresden/DE, Faculty of Environmental Science, Institute for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Junior Professorship for Geosensor Systems, Dresden (Germany)
• Ing. Petr Ošlejšek Ph.D., Deputy General Director of the Fire rescue service of the Czech Republic for integrated rescue systems and operational management (Czech Republic)
• Dr. Dirk Pflugmacher,  Remote sensing expert for fire mapping, Geographisches Institut, Humboldt University Berlin (Germany)
• Ing. Dalibor Šafařík, Ph.D., Czech forestry state enterprise, Chief Economic Officer, Lesy České republiky s.p., Hradec Králové (Czech Republic)
• Dr. Tanja Sanders, Thünen Institute for Forest Ecosystems/DE, Coordinator of the Copernicus Networking Office for Forests, Eberswalde (Germany)
• Dr.-Ing. Dirk Schneider, State Fire Chief, Saxon State Ministry of the Interior, Dresden (Germany)
• Prof. Olexandr Soshenskii and Prof. Dr. Sergiy Zibtsev, Regional Eastern Europe Fire Monitoring Center (REEFMC), National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine (Ukraine)
• Dr. Michaela Roberts, PhD, James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland UK
• Dr. Kirsten Thonicke, Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam (Germany)
• Prof. Dr. Harald Vacik, BOKU Vienna/AT, Institute of Silviculture, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
• Prof. Domingos Viegas, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Coimbra, Director of the Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics (ADAI) and of the Centre for Forest Fire Research (Portugal)