28th meeting of the CTIF International Study Group for the History of the Fire Services - Hungary in October

Information from the History Commission at the CTIF and the International Study Group for the History of Fire Service and Fire Protection at the CTIF 05/2020

Dear members of the commission, dear members of the study group,

today we will get back to you with current information about the history of fire fighting. The spread of the corona virus has changed all of our lives and unfortunately made it necessary to cancel many events. This affected, for example, the DFV's fire history seminar in Fulda, the meeting of the commission chair men with the executive committee in Ljubljana, the opening of the fire brigade museum in Luxembourg and the Interschutz in Hanover. In this context, there are many concerns about our October meeting.

Although it is currently difficult to estimate how the situation will change until October, we have agreed with the host country Hungary to continue the preparations for the conference.

This procedure has also been agreed with CTIF Secretary General Roman Sykora and we hope that the situation in Europe will ease to such an extent by October that neither travel restrictions nor safety concerns will prevent the conference from being held. The next few weeks will bring more clarity about this and gradually increase planning security. We would also like to point out that it is agreed with Hungary that if the event is canceled, the hotel in Balatonföldvár will not charge any cancellation fees. However, it is also clear to us that if the conference is canceled, train or plane tickets that have already been booked are subject to the applicable cancellation conditions. Nevertheless, we are pleased that there are already more than 30 registrations and the number is increasing every week.

Some of you have also written to us and explained that they would like to participate, but are currently hesitating to register - such feedback also helps us with the planning. In addition, the registration period has been extended to May 24th, 2020.

The commission meeting will be held as usual during the conference and will take place on Wednesday, October 7th, 2020. Commissioners are asked to direct proposals for the agenda of the meeting to the chairman of the Commission by May 24th, 2020. The invitation to the commission meeting will then be issued with the full agenda in early June.

The Commission also has additional staff. Heiko Reinholz has been nominated by the DFV as Rolf Schamberger's deputy and will also coordinate the classification of historic vehicles in Germany in the future.

There is also progress in museum certifications. The recertification of the fire brigade museum in Winnenden, Germany, is currently being completed. Harald Pflüger has given us a good overview of the work in the museum over the past ten years and will receive the new certificate in the next few days. The fire brigade museum in Mysłowice, Poland, is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year and Dariusz Falecki is also currently planning a new certification (the last certificate expired in 2018). In order to improve the presentation of the certified museums and collections on the CTIF homepage, we would like to add a current picture and/or logo and a direct link to the museum's homepage. The relevant data (photo, logo and link) can be sent directly to the chairman of the commission. This offer is valid for those museums or collections that have a current certification (Přibyslav, Fulda,

Groß St. Florian, Winnenden, Norderstedt, Zeithain, Prague, Eisenhüttenstadt, Vieux Ferrette, Weiz and Vienna).

We are also working on a presentation of the historic fire engines, classified according to the CTIF guidelines, on the CTIF homepage. A first draft is currently being made.

These are all the news I have got for you at the moment. Stay healthy!

Best regards

Gerald Schimpf Ingo Valentini

Chairman Commission Chairman Study Group

Dear ladies and gentlemen, comrades and friends of the fire service history,

in spite of the current Corona virus crisis, is the plan for the 28th meeting of international association for the history of the fire service and fire protection in the CTIF, from October 7-9 in Balatonföldvár -  Hungary, as scheduled. 

We are enclosing the invitation and registration for this event.

A comment is on the images provided. A high-quality conference volume can only occur if the images with 300 dpi published, so I ask that the images at least be sent in this resolution. Post production of photos and resolution upgrades means much more work. 

The Study Group is open to all members

Here we would like to emphasize once again that the working group for the fire department and fire protection history an open community is open to all! No matter what service level which fire department career, whether civil person or by a ministry, etc. We are open to new members.

We are looking forward to a nice and interesting conference volume 2020 and look forward to the meeting in October.

Courage and resolution in trying times

Look after yourself, look after your fellow human beings, stay at home.  For us in Austria, as in many other countries, we are encouraged to work from home and only leave the house for "important" purchases.  So we hope to overcome this crisis as well as possible, stay healthy and we look forward to seeing you again. 

Best regards, 

/ Stanislav and Ingo

Cover Photo (Above) by Wikipedia:

The Second World War 1939 - 1945- the Home Front
Members of the London Fire Brigade train their hoses on burning buildings in Queen Victoria Street, EC4, after the last and heaviest major raid mounted on the capital during the 'Blitz'. For six hours on the night of 10-11 May 1941, aircraft of the Luftwaffe dropped over 1,000 tons of bombs on London, claiming 1,486 lives, destroying 11,000 houses and damaging some of the most important historical buildings, including the Houses of Parliament, the British Museum and St James Palace. The low tide and more than 40 fractured mains deprived the firefighters of water and many of the 2,000 fires blazed out of control.