On the 22 October Wildfire CE’s Saxon partners the State Ministry for Regional Development and the TUD – Technical University Dresden held the regional kick-off event in premises of the regional government at the Sonnenstein Castle in Pirna, Saxony.
The event was attended by a wide variety of stakeholders including the Saxon State Fire Service, Saxon State Forestry and the Saxon Switzerland National Park, mayors from the surrounding towns and villages, interest groups such as the Saxon Mountain Climbers Association.
The event kicked-off with introductions to the project and its necessity by Max Winter from the Saxon Ministry for Regional Development and Brit Jacob-Hahnewald leader of regional environment and development for the Eastern Ore Mountains and Saxon Switzerland administrative area.
Following this, presentations from the fire service, National Park and Professor Matthias Forkel of TUD set the scene for the discussions that followed in the afternoon.
Key outcomes of the meeting were the need for improved knowledge of the cross-border dangers of wildfires, more accurate and in-depth mapping of access for the fire service in the border area. Other aspects included fire protection plans for settlements deemed at risk. The project is only at the start and we’re looking forward to working more with the stakeholders to deliver improved forest fire risk management in our shared border region