The CTIF Executive Committee held their yearly physical meeting in Luxembourg

The Executive Committee of CTIF had a strong agenda for their second physical meeting in 2022. The previous meeting in Celje in July was mostly focused on Delegates Assembly, so there was much for the EC to discuss. 

The CTIF EC meets bi-weekly online but also holds two physical meetings per year, once at Delegates Assembly and, since a few years back, at the Headquarters of the Luxembourg Fire Brigade.

The President, the General Secretary, the Treasurer and also most Vice Presidents were present physically, however there was a virtual connection available for those few not able to travel to the meeting. 

The cover photo above shows parts of the CTIF Executive Committee together with Paul Schroeder, WRO, and representatives of the Luxembourg fire service, outside the Headquarters building. 

The photo below shows members of the CTIF Executive Committee paying their respect on Sunday September 11, 2022, by attending a ceremony arranged by the Luxembourg National Civil Security Day and the World Rescue Challenge 2022, in honour of the 21st anniversary of the tragic event of 9/11 in New York, 2001. 

The EC Meeting in Brief, September 10, 2022:

The agenda points referred to below are not to be read as an official document, but rather an attempt to provide members a context of the work of the Executive Committee during the Autumn of 2022. Actual decisions of the EC will be recorded in the official Minutes, available to members by request from the CTIF Secretary, Neza Strmole. 

MOU with the World Rescue Organisation (WRO)

An Memorandum of Understanding  between CTIF and the World Rescue Organisation (WRO) was finalized at the CTIF Executive Committee's yearly physical meeting in Luxembourg. It was signed by Paul Schroeder, Chairman of WRO and Milan Dubravac, President of CTIF,  during the EC meeting on Saturday September 10. 

The purpose of this MOU is to provide a framework for future collaboration between CTIF and WRO in particular in the field of extrication and road safety.

The partners declare to be committed to the goals and actions determined within the Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021–2030) as established by UN General Assembly Resolution 74/299 (2020) with the aim to accelerate coordinated international action aimed at reducing the number of deaths due to road traffic injuries. 

Read More about the MOU with WRO here 

The situation regarding the armed conflict in Ukraine

The Executive Committee opened their meeting with a discussion on the situation in Ukraine, an invitation for the CTIF President to visit Ukraine in the near future, and of course, their new status as an Ordinary Member of CTIF, as of Delegates Assembly 2022 in Celje. 

The next agenda point related to the temporary membership suspension of Russian and Belarus national representation in CTIF on which there has been correspondence between the Russian National Committee and EC. The EC confirmed and explained its continuing decision to suspend both Russia and Belarus. 

Delegates Assembly 2022, 2023 and 2024 - with CTIF Seminar

There was a short review of this year´s Delegates Assembly in Celje 2022, which was also held during the CTIF Firefighters Olympics, which has been a very large undertaking for CTIF, and for Slovenia as a host country this year. 

The General Secretary Roman Sykora held a preliminary powerpoint presentation showing the meeting venue  at Vienna City Hall, and the hotel options for next year´s DA in Vienna, Austria. The date for DA will be Thursday June 15, 2023. An invitation has been sent out by  e-mail to the National Committees as of Tuesday, September 13, with an official invitation to the event.

The invitation also contains important information regarding the upcoming elections / re-elections of several CTIF Vice Presidents, and for the position of General Secretary. A template form for candidates to apply will be sent by the end of September.  

Vice President Ole Hansen held a presentation about various options for arranging Delegates Assembly in Oslo 2024. A challenging aspect of arranging large physical meetings and seminars are escalating costs, and a few options were discussed how to make DA 2024 affordable, both for Delegates and for hosting CTIF National Committee of Norway.

The intent is also to host a CTIF Seminar in connection to DA 2024, with a day of  lectures and Lessons Learnt, in a similar style as our previous CTIF Seminars "Fire, Rescue & New Challenges". Well attended and much appreciated CTIF Seminars were held before the pandemic, in Brussels 2018 and in Ostrava, Czech Republic 2019. 

Internal and external communications

Several of the agenda points discussed how CTIF can continue the work to improve communications, both internally between members, but also with new potential members, industry and other stakeholders in the community. Special attention will be put towards keeping in more close contact with Commission Chairs, National Committees and Associate Members.  

The CTIF Strategic and Scientific Oversight Commission (SSOC) - which was officially formed in early 2022 -  will continue and resume meetings during the upcoming year. This group will be addressing internal group leadership and other important general strategic agenda points for CTIF as an organisation.      

The EC decided to start work on a Welcome Package for New Members on all levels of membership. A special work group was appointed begin outlining the content, which will serve as form of "who-is-who" within CTIF, how to get involved and what a member can expect from CTIF, and vice versa.  

There was also continued discussions about the possibility of creating a more elaborate  Media Strategy for CTIF. Preliminary meetings with communication experts within some of our member countries who have expressed interest in this topic will be held during the Fall of 2022. The current version of our website CTIF.org was launched in the beginning of 2018 and has continually been updated and improved since then. During 2022 German and French translations have been added, with a plan for adding two more languages in the near future. 

Communications coordinator Björn Ulfsson explained some recent updates on the webpage, security improvements and future functionality updates  

Re-start of the Europe Commission and new projects

CTIF´s Senior Strategic Project Adviser Dennis Davis (UK) has had some challenges keeping the commission active during the Pandemic, mostly due several commission members retiring or changing work positions.  With renewed support from the EC, it was decided that attempts to get this important commission working again will begin soon, mostly with virtual meetings for a start. Some of the important tasks of this commission are the Working Time Directive (WTD)  and CTIF´s relationship with the EU and other European authorities.

Dennis Davis also held a presentation about the next phase of the HyResponder project, of which CTIF has been an integral part. 

Horizon Europe research project

Dennis Davis was also put in charge of negotiating a new possible cooperation with  the Research Unit of
the Federal Agency for Technical Relief in Germany. The project would be coordinated by CTIF´s Associate Member THWand involves joining a consortium preparing a Horizon Europe research project proposal within the topic of "Civil Security for Society".   THW together with Satways (Greece) and AIT (Austria) is writing the proposal. The funded project would be coordinated by THW. The most important task in the project is to identify and prioritize first responder capability gaps. 

Proposed MOU with Organización de Bomberos Americanos

A proposal for a new MOU has been drafted by the chair of the CTIF Center for Fire Statistics, Dr Peter Wagner. More information about this will be published as the negotiations progresses. CTIF´s Senior Project Advisor Dennis Davis was tasked to outline a draft text for the MOU with the South American Organización de Bomberos Americanos. 

Dr Peter Wagner also proposed an idea for a more close cooperation with the CTIF Center for Fire Statistics and our Commissions / Working Groups. More about this project will be discussed with the Chairs at a later date when the details have been finalized. 

Senegal - Request for Ordinary Membership / Interim Associate Membership

The last agenda point was a request from Senegal to become Ordinary Members of CTIF. Two representatives from Senegal visited Delegates Assembly and the CTIF Competitions in Celje 2022. Senegal is currently working on their national membership  application. Full membership for a nation can only be granted once per year during Delegates Assembly. The next possibility to vote Senegal in would be during the CTIF Elections in Vienna 2023. If Senegal is voted in as full ordinary member in 2023,  the nation would be the first country on the African continent to join CTIF. A possible interim solution in the form of an Associate ´Membership has been offered for this year, until the national requirements for joining have been worked out.