
2020: All physical CTIF meetings postponed or cancelled until further notice - continued strong advice against travel
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Dear members of CTIF,
Unfortunately, the ongoing pandemic situation with the coronavirus does not allow us to meet and hold a physical annual Delegate Assembly this year.
The organization of the Delegates Assembly is very important for the operation of the CTIF organization so we would like to inform you that the virtual Delegate Assembly will take place on October 21, 2020 at 9:00 UTC via the Zoom application. READ MORE ABOUT THE VIRTUAL DA HERE:
You will receive more detailed information on access, agenda and elections. You will also receive detailed instruction on how to connect to Zoom, and technical support, once we get closer to the date. As usual, invited members will be National Delegates and our commercial members. Only the designated national representatives will have voting rights, just like during a physical meeting.
The meeting will likely be no more than 2-3 hours maximum duration, and will involve the counting of votes for new members of the Executive Committee, and also conformation of the votes for the new CTIF Presidential Election. A voting procedure by proxy will take place in advance, and the votes will be counted with independent witnesses live during the DA meeting.
The CTIF seminar working group is also working on selecting a small number of keynote speakers to hold short virtual lectures during Delegates Assembly. Due to being restricted to the internet, the program will be much shorter than a normal DA.
The start time is set for 9 am, UTC. (+ / - 0) Since october 21 is after Day Light Savings has ended for all member countries, it means that for most central European countries, the meeting will start at 10:00 am. (Central European Time)
In Finland and some Eastern European member countries, the meeting start time will be at 11:00 am.
In Russia (Moscow) the start time will be 12 (Noon).
In the UK, the meeting will start at 09:00 (GMT.)
For our members in Japan and South Korea, the start time will be at 18:00 / 6 pm.
In Iran (Tehran) the start time will be a 12:30 pm.
For the east coast of the United States, the start time of the meeting will be 4 am. For the Pacific US states, the start time will be 2am. For other US states, please refer to and calculate your time difference with either Pacific or Eastern standard time.
If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact the CTIF Office.
PS: Organising an online international event is challenging due to the various time zones. The CTIF Executive Committee has spent much effort discussing this, and decided on the start time based on what is the least inconvenient for most of our member countries. We realize that it will be a very early morning (or late night?) for some of our North American friends.
CTIF hopes that all member countries will be able to attain the meeting, despite the time differences.
All physical CTIF meetings - including Delegates Assembly 2020 and our annual CTIF Seminar - are postponed until further notice. More information on DA 2020 will be sent out to members shortly. (Information below last updated May 4, 2020)
Given the wide spread COVID-19 pandemic situation around the globe, CTIF advices all members to exercise extreme caution when it comes to travel – and if possible restrict all interactions to virtual meetings on the internet.
These recommendations / restrictions are currently active for Spring and Summer of 2020. However - the CTIF is closely following the development of the pandemic and we are prepared to make amendments to include restrictions for the the entire Autumn of 2020, reaching into 2021 and beyond, should it become necessary.
All CTIF functions are currently being arranged entirely through virtual solutions, by phone, video conference, mail and other solutions. Several of CTIF´s Commissions decided early on in the pandemic to cancel their meetings and go virtual, in order to take the lead in precautionary measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CTIF Executive Committee has been meeting virtually since late 2018, as a compliment to their bi yearly physical meetings, so the transition to a virtual meeting environment was smooth for CTIF´s governing body.
Photo Credit: Empty office with a virtual green screen. Photo: Pixabay.com
Text by: Tore Eriksson, President of the CTIF / Björn Ulfsson, Communications Coordinator ot the CTIF
Most countries are now planning to open up their economies again after being on lockdown or at least strong restrictions for several weeks, up to two months in some cases. The CTIF would like to strongly urge all first responders to stay extremely vigilant and not relax procedures and precautions. Since most scientists and epidemiologists agree that there is a risk for a stronger, even more dangerous second wave of the pandemic after the summer, the CTIF is closely following the development. We are also following and reporting on procedural policies for first responders around the world. Please contact us if you want to share your story working under pandemic restrictions.
The general concern of the CTIF is how the novel corona virus will affect medical resources in member countries, given an even larger spread of the virus in the future. The novel corona virus is likely considerably more deadly than the common flu, especially for people in high risk groups and with repeated strong exposure. It is highly contagious in ways the medical and scientific community doesn´t yet fully understand. The demand for hospital care becomes very high in dealing with the more severe cases, and given the rapid spread of the virus, it makes the Covid-19 outbreak different from other pandemics in recent years.
General Advice from CTIF at this time:
The CTIF International Association of Fire Services consists of 39 sovereign member states, each governed by their own national and regional jurisdictions when. The recommendations for first response, health care and national protection may differ in each region, and therefore, CTIF cannot give general guidelines for how to deal with the situation. CTIF does however strongly advice all members to closely follow their local authorities advice and recommendations at this time, as always.
Delegates Assembly, Interschutz and other large technical seminars:
While several large technical conferences around the world have already decided to cancel or postpone their activities due to the pandemic, it remains to be decided in which form CTIF´s yearly congress the Delegates Assembly (with its important upcoming elections) will be arranged during current circumstances. It was originally scheduled to be held during Interschutz in Hannover on June 17 of this year. The CTIF Executive Committee will announce special measures for DA 2020 shorty, including new dates for the CTIF Elections.
Strong advice against international travel and physical meetings:
For the moment, CTIF strongly advises its members to avoid unnecessary travel and to postpone Commission and Working Group meetings involving international travel at this time. A good option during the course of the pandemic is to work with video conferencing systems or other internet based, virtual solutions.
On Monday March 16, it was decided that INTERSCHUTZ in Germany is cancelled until 2021. This effects CTIF´s Delegates Assembly, since DA was supposed to be held during Interschutz, arranged by DVF. For now, Delegates Assembly is postponed. Stay tuned for more information on new dates for Delegates Assembly.
The CTIF Commission for Voluntary Firefighters informed their members on Thursday that their planned April Commission meeting Ljubljana has been postponed until further notice due to travel restrictions.
The CTIF Youth Leader Commission decided on Saturday to cancel their 15th Symposium of the International Youth Leader Commission in May, also due to the corona outbreak.
Tore Eriksson
President of the CTIF International Association of Fire Services