Record meeting in Salzburg: fire brigade historians from 17 nations united!

Record meeting in Salzburg: fire brigade historians from 17 nations united!

The 32nd conference of the International Working Group on Fire Brigade and Fire Protection History was recently held in Salzburg. From October 7th to 11th, 2025, 143 fire department historians from 17 nations came together, which is a new record for the event. The focus of the conference was the current research topic “alarming and communication” in the fire service, an area that has influenced the development and efficiency of fire departments over the years like no other, as feuerwehrverband.de describes.

What was particularly noteworthy was that this year, for the first time, commission members from Bulgaria, Latvia and Ecuador were part of the event. This underlines the international importance and exchange within the fire service historian community. Germany was represented by Bernd Klaedtke from the Cologne fire department and Carsten Löwe from the Dresden fire department.

The four day event

The days in Salzburg were packed with exciting program items. The opening event took place in the vehicle hall of the State Fire Brigade Association, where, among others, State Governor Karoline Edstadler as well as the CTIF President Milan Dubravac and the CTIF Vice President Luc Faes were present. The evening was accompanied musically by the fire department music from Oberalm.

The CTIF Commission on Fire Service History meeting was held in a hybrid format, with representatives from 18 nations participating, including one nation in online mode. The discussions discussed, among other things, the digital inventory of historical vintage fire engines and the preparations for future conferences.

Specialist articles and the next conference

61 authors from 14 nations contributed a total of 48 specialist articles to the conference proceedings. This publication comprises over 400 pages and covers relevant topics such as alarms, fire calls, noise signals as well as the functions of fire alarm systems and communication within the fire brigade. A special lecture by Oliver Kubitza (Stuttgart) highlighted the communication possibilities with the historic Steinheil writing telegraph, while Markus Zawadke (Munich) presented the connection to modern alerting.

Another highlight of the conference was the excursion in memory of Adolf Schinnerl in Adnet as well as a city tour of Salzburg, which enabled the participants to network additionally. During the final event, honors and awards were given to the participants, and five German representatives also received new CTIF awards.

The next conference of the International Working Group on Fire and Fire Protection History will take place from October 6th to 10th, 2026 in Myslowice, Poland. The topic chosen there will be “Women, Diversity and Inclusion in the Fire Department,” a promising topic that draws attention to the current challenges and opportunities in fire department culture.

A look at history shows that the roots of the fire service go back to the Roman Empire, as early as 21 BC. The first fire department with 600 slaves was founded in the 1st century BC. In the Middle Ages, it was the communities that had to take care of fire protection, and with the invention of the hose in the 17th century, fire fighting experienced its first technical revolution. The development continues unabated to this day and affects central questions such as alarming, which were intensively discussed in Salzburg, as can also be found on ctif.org.

This conference once again underlined the importance of scientific exchange and the development of the fire service, which always stays up to date through innovations and cooperation with international partners.