The CTIF Seminar Fire, Rescue & New Challenges 2019 - Ostrava, Czechia October 25-26

REGISTER AND SEE THE PROGRAM HERE!

The November 2018 CTIF Seminar "Fire, Rescue & New Challenges" in Brussels was a great success! CTIF has now decided to make the CTIF Seminar a permanent, yearly event and next fire organisation to host the CTIF Seminar will be Ostrava, Czech Republic on October 25th and 26th, 2019.

Cover Photo: (Above)  Downtown Ostrava by night. Video. (Below) Hotel Clarion in Ostrava, with the meeting rooms and facilities.

The hosting organization will be the Ostrava Fire Services of North-Eastern Moravia, who successfully hosted the Delegates Assembly 2009, also in Ostrava.

The CTIF Executive Committee has decided to keep the name of the seminar the same, since "Fire, Rescue & New Challenges" is a headline which can encompass many current topics within Fire & Rescue and is a name that has already received some recognition in Europe.

While last year´s Seminar focused on New Technologies, such as the use of drones during interventions, Best Practices for Alternative Energy Vehicles, the new ISO Standard and the latest developments in the field of Firefighters´ Health, the CTIF Seminar 2019 will also focus on four sub headlines:

- Communications within Fire & Rescue

- New Procedures & Best Practices

- Innovations & Technology in Fire & Rescue

- Lessons Learned from Recent or Past Events 

The Seminar will be divided into four half days based on these categories of topics. A Call for Proposals will be sent out shortly. 

Dates:

 Friday October 25th and Saturday October 26th, 2019

Arrival Thursday October 24th

Departure October 27th

Official CTIF Dinner: To Be Announced

Languages:

The Seminar will be conducted in English with simultaneous translation provided into Czech. Other languages may be added depending on Registrations and the needs of the participants. 

Registration & Fees

Registration or Pre-Registration link will be provided here on CTIF.org within the next few weeks. The Fees for participating in the 2019 Seminar will be similar to last year; around  €50 for one-day registration and around €75 for the two-day package. 

The costs for hotel accommodation will be expected to be around €70 per night. More information will follow on food & drink, but expect moderate prices as Ostrava is outside of the major tourist regions. 

Transportation:

Free bus transportation will be provided from the nearest airports of Krakow and Katovice, which are both in Poland, about one hour from Ostrava.

Those wishing to fly in to Prague international airport instead can take a fast train from Prague to Ostrava, a journey which will take approximately three hours.

Sponsorship: 

There will be space in the lobby outside the meeting room for Corporate Displays. There will also be ample space outside the hotel Clarion to demonstrate vehicles or other large displays.

Associate Members wishing to get involved should get in touch with one of our vice presidents, Ole Hansen, Milan Dubravac or for Czech companies, contact Zdenek Nytra in Prague through the CTIF Office in Ljubljana. 

Wikipedia.com on the City of Ostrava:

Ostrava (Polish: Ostrawa, German: Ostrau or Mährisch Ostrau) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and is the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It is 15 km (9 mi) from the border with Poland, at the meeting point of four rivers: the Odra, Opava, Ostraviceand Lučina. In terms of both population and area Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic, the second largest city in Moravia, and the largest city in Czech Silesia. It straddles the border of the two historic provinces of Moravia and Silesia. The population was around 300,000 in 2013. The wider conurbation – which also includes the towns of Bohumín, Doubrava, Havířov, Karviná, Orlová, Petřvald and Rychvald – is home to about 500,000 people, making it the largest urban area in the Czech Republic apart from the capital, Prague.

Ostrava grew in importance due to its position at the heart of a major coalfield, becoming an important industrial centre. It was previously known as the country's "steel heart" thanks to its status as a coal-mining and metallurgical centre, but since the Velvet Revolution (the fall of communism in 1989) it has undergone radical and far-reaching changes to its economic base. Industries have been thoroughly restructured, and the last coal was mined in the city in 1994. However, remnants of the city's industrial past are visible in the Lower Vítkovice area, a former coal-mining, coke production and ironworks complex in the city centre which retains its historic industrial architecture. Lower Vítkovice has applied for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Since the 1990s Ostrava has been transformed into a modern cultural city, with numerous theatres, galleries and other cultural facilities. Various cultural and sporting events take place in Ostrava throughout the year, including the Colours of Ostrava music festival, the Janáček May classical music festival, the Summer Shakespeare Festival and NATO Days. Ostrava is home to two public universities: the VŠB-Technical University and the University of Ostrava. In 2014 Ostrava was a European City of Sport. The city co-hosted (with Prague) the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in 2004 and 2015.