> Workshop on Fuels Management
Taking advantage of the realization of the 6th International Conference on Forest Fire Research, The Fire and Environmental Research Applications team (FERA) of the Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory has developed a suite of four fuel management products that will be demonstrated at this workshop, entitled: A Suite of Fuel Management Tools: Fuel Characteristic Classification System, Natural Fuels Photo Series, Digital Photo Series, and Consume 3_0.
This workshop will take place in the morning of the 13th of November at hotel Vila Galé and its participation is limited to 40 persons.
If you are interested in participating in this event please inform Roger Ottmar (rottmar@fs.fed.us). Also please fill and send the attached registration form to the organization of the Conference for the following email address: icffr@dem.uc.pt.
For those registered at the Conference the participation in this Workshop has no additional cost. For those that are not registered in the Conference there will be a fee of 100 € (One hundred Euros).
Click here to download workshop agenda
Click here to download the registration form
Visit to the Fire Research Laboratory of ADAI and Conference Dinner
A visit to the Fire Research Laboratory of ADAI situated at the Airfield of Lousã is planned on the 16th November at the end of the day on the way to the Conference dinner that will be held at a Hotel Meliá in Lousã.
During the visit the Delegates will have the opportunity to see the test devices that exist in the Laboratory and to attend to the performance of some experiments.
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Buses will depart from the Hotel Vila Galé to take the Delegates that are registered at the Conference and at the dinner to the Fire Laboratory and then to the Hotel Meliá.
After the dinner buses will transport the Delegates back to the Hotels in Coimbra. The trip to Coimbra will take approximately 30 minutes and the arrival is expected to be at 23:30h.
Hotel Meliá Palácio da Lousã
If you wish to stay at Hotel Meliá in Lousã, before, during or after the Conference, special prices are available for the Conference participants. In case of reservation please indicate that you are registered at the conference.
For more information please visit the hotel web page at: www.palaciodalousa.com
>Short Course on Fire Behaviour, 13 to 14 November 2010
> Objectives
The 6th Short Course on Fire Behaviour will take place in Coimbra, before the 6th International Conference on Forest Fire Research (13-14 November 2010), under the Coordination of Dr. Albert Simeoni from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA.
The topics in focus will be: Fire dynamics, heat transfer and combustion, crown fires, coupled atmosphere fire behaviour, eruptive fires and fire safety issues, as well as fires at the Wildland Urban Interface.
The lecturers are leading experts in the aforementioned topics, ensuring the participants to get an up-to-date information and knowledge available in the domain.
The Short Course is directed to young researchers starting in this topic or to more experienced researchers to update their knowledge as well as to fire managers, fire-fighter officers and consultants who need to understand better fire behaviour.
> Provisional Program
SATURDAY 13. Nov 10 |
SUNDAY 14. Nov 10 |
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9:00 - 10:30 |
Crown Fires Martin Alexander and Miguel Cruz |
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10:30 - 11:00 |
Coffee Break |
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11:00 - 12:30 |
Coupled Atmosphere Fire Behaviour R. Linn |
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Lunch |
Lunch |
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14:00 - 14:30 |
Opening - A. Simeoni & D.X. Viegas |
Eruptive Fires and Safety Issues Domingos X. Viegas |
14:30 - 15:30 |
An Introduction to Fire Behaviour and Fire Dynamics Albert Simeoni |
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15:30 - 16:00 |
Coffee Break |
Coffee Break |
16:00 - 17:30 |
The role of combustion and heat transfer in fire spread Shankar Mahalingam |
Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface Jack Cohen |
17:30 - 18:30 |
Round table How a better understanding in fire behaviour can be applied to the field? |
> Short Biography of the Lecturers
Martin Alexander - Dr. Martin Alexander is currently an Adjunct Professor of wild land fire science and management in the Department of Renewable Resources and Alberta School of Forest Science & Management at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He recently retired as a Senior Fire Behaviour Research Officer following a 34-year career with the Canadian Forest Service.
His research interests have been in the practical and application of scientific fire behaviour knowledge to fire management. Dr. Alexander was one of the architects of the Canadian Forest Fire Behaviour Prediction System and also served as a co-coordinator of the International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment, Northwest Territories (1995-2001).
He has been heavily involved in fire behaviour training on a national and international basis.
In 2003, Dr. Alexander received Wildland Fire Safety Award from the International Association of Wildland Fire for his research and development efforts in fire behaviour and firefighter safety.
He began his career in wildland fire in 1972 serving as a interagency hotshot crew member for two seasons on the Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming, USA and also worked seasonally for the USDA Forest Service in fire danger rating research, wilderness fuel inventory, and slash burning.
Jack Cohen - Dr. Jack Cohen is a Research Physical Scientist at the USDA. He has been involved in wildland fire research since 1972 and has served at US Forest Service fire laboratories in Missoula, MT, Riverside, CA and Macon, GA (defunct).
He was a co-developer of the U.S. National Fire Danger Rating System and has contributed to the development of U.S. fire behaviour prediction systems. At the Riverside Fire Laboratory he conducted research on live fuel fire behaviour in southern California shrub lands (chaparral) and also served operationally as a prescribed fire ignition supervisor and fire behaviour analyst.
Jack has focused his research on how Wildland urban interface (WUI) fire disasters occur and how homes ignite during extreme wildfire behaviour since 1989. He was one of the principal scientists involved in the International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment, NWT, Canada (1997-2001), where he investigated the thermal characteristics of crown fire related to structure ignition.
Jack currently divides his research between the WUI fire issue and understanding live-fuel, shrub and tree canopy fire behaviour processes (active crown fires).
Miguel Cruz - Dr. Miguel Cruz is currently a Senior Research Scientist with the CSIRO Bushfire Dynamics and Applications group. He has a BSc in Forest Operations and an MSc and PhD in Forest Science.
His main research interests are in fire behaviour modelling, namely the onset and propagation of crown fires in conifer forests, nonlinear fire dynamics in mallee-heath shrublands, and fire spread in eucalypt forests. The motivation for his work is to develop models that can be used when addressing fire management issues, such as defining fuel complex treatments aimed at reducing the potential of crown fire activity, prediction of fire behaviour to support prescribed burn and fire suppression operations.
Miguel is also involved in fire behaviour training with various Australian land management agencies.
Rodman Lynn - Dr. Rodman Linn is a team leader for the Atmospheric Modelling and Weapon Phenomenology Team in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Division in Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in the United States. Rodman began his career in the field of theoretical turbulence modelling in LANL’s Theoretical Fluid Dynamics group in 1990 working with Francis Harlow. This work provided the foundations for Dr. Linn’s research in the area of forest fire modelling, which began in 1995.
He was the principle investigator/developer for a physic’s-based wildfire model utilizing computational fluid dynamics techniques, FIRETEC. This work formed the basis for his 1997 PhD, and the first three-dimensional physics-based coupled fire/atmosphere computer code designed to work on landscape scale fires. Dr. Linn is the project leader for the wildfire research at LANL and has active collaborations with a variety of universities and government institutions internationally. He continues his wildfire research work with a focus on coupled fire/atmosphere behaviour in a variety of conditions.
Dr. Linn has served on a wide variety of review teams as serving in advisory roles for two EU projects. Rodman is an associate editor for the International Journal of Wildland Fire and teaches engineering courses in mechanics and fluid dynamics.
Shankar Mahalingam - Professor Shankar Mahalingam received his bachelors degree from IIT Madras, Masters from SUNY Stony Brook in, and Ph.D. from Stanford University, all in Mechanical Engineering. From 1989 to 2000, he was an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has been at the University of California, Riverside since 2000. In 1997, he served (6 months) as an Invited Professor at the Laboratoire EM2C, Ecole Centrale, Paris, France. In 2008, he served (2 months) as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal. He is currently Chair of his department, having served in that capacity between 2002-2006, and 2008-current.
Professor Mahalingam's research interests include direct and large eddy simulations of turbulent combustion, modelling of fire behaviour through laboratory experiments and large eddy simulation, and acoustic-flow interactions. He has received funding for his research as PI and co-PI from AFOSR, NSF, ACS-PRF, ONR, UCEI, USDAFS, UCR-LANL, SERDP, and JFSP. He served as a Member-at-Large of the Board of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute (1992-1998, and 2003-2008). He is a member of Sigma Xi, APS (Fluid Dynamics), The Combustion Institute, an Associate Fellow of AIAA, a Fellow of ASME, and Associate Editor of the AIAA Journal (2002-2005).
Albert Simeoni - Dr. Albert Simeoni is an Associate-Professor at the University of Corsica (France) and a member of the CNRS UMR 6134 laboratory in Sciences for the Environment in which he was director of the forest fire unit from 2006 to 2008. He is detached to the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Edinburgh since 2008.
Dr Simeoni’s research started in 1997, including forest fire modeling, simulations and experiments under fundamental and applied aspects. He developed simplified physical models of forest fire spread at the laboratory scale and physical sub-modeling for detailed fire spread models. Then, he participated to the development of experimental activities in the field to measure physical quantities in fires. More recently, he started working on small scale experiments and modeling to understand and describe the combustion dynamics of forest fuels for flaming and smoldering wildfires.
He participated in many forest fire research projects at regional, national and EU levels, as team member or team leader. More recently, he started to push several European initiatives and took part in the steering committee of two European proposals. He also participated in the scientific board and the organizing committee of several conferences in Combustion, Fire Safety and Forest Fires. He is associate-editor of the Fire Safety Journal.
He is also a part-time fire-fighter and Wildland Fire Expert at the Fire Department of North-Corsica (France) since 1998 and Station Commander from 2004 to 2005. He was involved in active fire-fighting from 1998 to 2007 in the French region the most impacted by forest fires.
Domingos X. Viegas - Dr. Domingos Viegas is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Coimbra. In 1990 he has founded the Associação para o Desenvolvimento da Aerodinâmica Industrial (ADAI) – Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics, which is an integrated research unit of the National Associated Laboratory for Energy, Transports and Aeronautics (LAETA). He is the responsible for the Centro de Estudos sobre Incêndios Florestais (CEIF) - Center for Forest Fires Studies of ADAI, for research, advanced training and counseling in forest fires. He was the team leader and leader of several National and European projects in collaboration with several scientific and operational institutions. He is the Director of the Forest Fires Research Laboratory (LEIF), one of the largest laboratories in this field of research.
His main areas of research interests are forest fire propagation, personnel safety and decision support for fire management.
He is the author of a large number of publications and research studies, including 34 articles in peer reviewed international journals; he has been supervisor of a large number of Master and Doctoral Thesis. He has been an Invited lecturer on Forest Fires in several International Conferences and other meetings.
He was a Member of the Enquiry Committee designated by the Portuguese Government to investigate two accidents with fire fighters in 2005 and 2006 in Portugal and one in Croatia (2007) and called by the Court to report on three accidents with fire fighters, in 2005 and 2006 in Portugal and one in Spain (2005).
He coordinated five editions of an International Conference on Fire Science, and organized many other scientific meetings, Short-Courses, Training Courses and Seminars about forest fires.
In 2004 he and his team of ADAI received an award – El Batefuegos de Oro Award—or golden fire swatter—for excellence in international technical cooperation given by the Associacion para la Promocion de Actividades Socioculturales (APAS), with the support of Spanish fire managers and stakeholders.
> Short Course on Fire Safety, 12 to 13 November 2010
The 3rd Short Course on Fire Safety will take place in Coimbra, before the 6th International Conference on Forest Fire Research (12-13 November 2010), under the Coordination of Dr. Bret Butler from Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, USA.
> Objectives
Personal safety is a primary concern at all levels of fire management. With this in mind, the 6th Short Course on Fire Safety will take place in Coimbra, before the 6th International conference on Forest Fire Research (12-13 November, 2010), under the Coordination of Dr. Bret Butler from the US Forest Service Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory.
Lectures will be presented by leading experts in the topics of interest. The course will kick off with a focus on personal observations of the challenges faced and lessons learned from the devastating fires in Victoria in 2009. This will be followed by a lecture focused on the European approach to community protection. The afternoon session will contrast fire management approaches in North America to those in Portugal. The last session held on the morning of November 13 will focus on personal and firefighter safety. The first lecture will present current state-of-the art in personal protective equipment from North America followed by summaries of current research and findings relative to firefighter safety and extreme fire behavior.
Firefighters, fire managers and fire researchers will benefit from the up-to-date synopsis of problems associated with wildland fire as well as some geographically unique solutions to these problems.
> Provisional Program
12 Nov 2010 |
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13 Nov 2010 |
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Theme |
Community Protection Case Studies |
Theme |
Firefighter and Personal Safety |
9:00 - 10:00 |
Wildfire Management and Safety – an Australian Perspective |
9:00 - 9:45 |
Firefighter protective equipment—current status and future |
9:00 – 10:30 |
Firefighter Safety and High Intensity Fire behaviour |
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10:00 - 10:30 |
Coffee Break |
10:30 - 10:45 |
Coffee Break |
10:30 - 11:30 |
Urban Interface fires in Europe-challenges and solutions |
10:45 - 11:30 |
Incident management in Portugal |
11:30 - 11:55 |
Panel Discussion on fire safety practices and equipment |
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11:30 - 12:00 |
Panel Discussion on Urban Interface |
11:55 - 12:00 |
Close out workshop (Butler) |
12:00 – 14:00 |
Lunch |
12:00 – 14:00 |
Lunch |
Theme |
Fire management around the Globe |
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14:00 - 15:00 |
Fires in Canada and Alaska –Clallenges faced by Fire Managers and Communities |
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15:00 - 15:30 |
Coffee Break |
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15:30 - 16:30 |
Research Applications to Personal Safety |
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16:30 - 17:00 |
Panel Discussion on Incident Management Organization -similarities and differences across the globe. |
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> Coordinator:
Bret Butler
Since 1992 Bret has worked as a research mechanical engineer in the Fire Behavior Research Work Unit at the US Forest Service Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, MT. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University (1992). He has authored more than 105 technical papers. His research interests can be categorized into 4 major research focuses: 1) Fundamental research into basic mechanisms affecting fire behavior. 2) Fire-Induced Plant Mortality Model. 3) The development of guidelines, models, and information to address firefighter safety zones and deployment zones. 4) Techniques for simulating near surface wind flow.
He has been lead editor on 5 major conference proceedings and program chair of four international fire research conferences and co-chair of two major international wildland fire research conferences.
> Lecturers:
David Nichols
David has been with the Country Fire Authority Victoria since 1995 and is currently the Manager of Operations Research and Development. Since 2004 he has been the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre Project Leader for the Firefighter Health, Safety and Well-being project and was Project Leader for the Safe, Cost-effective Equipment and Technology project. Current research interests include fire fighter safety, wildfire behaviour, wildland fire technology, fire fighting vehicle and equipment design improvements, fire weather, and emergency management data systems. Prior to 1995, he was a Technical Group Supervisor of the Visualisation and Earth Science Applications Group at National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California and as a Senior Scientist in the Earth Observations Directorate at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre (JSC) in Houston, Texas.
David has a Bachelors Degree in Science from Fresno State University and a Masters in Science from San Diego State University both universities in California. He has published over two-dozen articles on fire fighter safety, wildland fire technology, fire detection and mapping, image processing, risk management, fire behaviour, and data systems in various journals and scientific publications.
Robert S. McAlpine
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Aviation, Forest Fire, and Emergency Services, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
Rob McAlpine is the Program Leader for Fire Science and Technology with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aviation, Forest Fire, and Emergency Services. He is responsible for research and innovation, information systems and technology, and telecommunication systems. Rob has an Hon.B.ScF. (Lakehead University 1983) and an M.SC. (University of Montana 1988). One of Rob’s unique strengths is his ability to translate the highly technical details of wildland fire research into a format that can be successfully used by wildland fire managers.
Tony Petrilli
Tony Petrilli is an equipment specialist and fire project leader for the fire and aviation and safety and health programs at MTDC. He has a bachelor’s degree in education from Western Montana College. Tony began working for the Forest Service in 1982 and joined the center full time in 2000. He has worked as a firefighter on the Lewis and Clark and Beaverhead National Forests and as a smokejumper for the Northern Region in the United States. He is also a division/group supervisor and type III incident commander.
Tony currently leads the firefighter fire shelter project, as well as several projects focused on firefighter personal protective equipment. He is a national resource for wildland firefighter accident investigations and serves as a national expert on wildland firefighter protective equipment for the National Fire Protection Association.
David Caballero
David Caballero, MSc on Forest Engineering, is performing research activities on natural hazards since 1988, focusing on forest fires. He participated in the development of a number of information systems (CARDIN, FOMFIS, FORFAIT, AUTOHAZARD, MEDIGRID, SCIER) for fire risk management and prevention planning under the auspices of the European Research Framework Programmes. He also co-ordinated the research project WARM on wildland-urban interface in Europe and, based on it, performed several studies and characterisation of the interface in Spain and Portugal.
Currently David is head of Forest Fire Department at MeteoGRID, a private consultancy firm based in Spain, on weather forecast and applications for natural hazards management. He is in charge of the design and development of studies and projects about characterisation and mapping of risk due to forest fires, particularly in the wildland-urban interface, such as those carried out in Balearic Islands, Navarra, Andalucia and Valencia regions in Spain. He also contributed to the design and functionality improvement of SIGYM and SIMIF online systems for forest fire management, providing analysis and assessment for large fires as in 2009 and 2010 fire campaigns at national and regional scales.
Domingos X. Viegas
Domingos X. Viegas is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Coimbra. In 1990 he has founded the Associação para o Desenvolvimento da Aerodinâmica Industrial (ADAI) – Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics, which is an integrated research unit of the National Associated Laboratory for Energy, Transports and Aeronautics (LAETA). He is the responsible for the Centro de Estudos sobre Incêndios Florestais (CEIF) - Center for Forest Fires Studies of ADAI, for research, advanced training and counseling in forest fires. He was the team leader and leader of several National and European projects in collaboration with several scientific and operational institutions. He is the Director of the Forest Fires Research Laboratory (LEIF), one of the largest laboratories in this field of research.
His main areas of research interests are forest fire propagation, personnel safety and decision support for fire management.
He is the author of a large number of publications and research studies, including 34 articles in peer reviewed international journals; he has been supervisor of a large number of Master and Doctoral Thesis. He has been an Invited lecturer on Forest Fires in several International Conferences and other meetings.
He was a Member of the Enquiry Committee designated by the Portuguese Government to investigate two accidents with fire fighters in 2005 and 2006 in Portugal and one in Croatia (2007) and called by the Court to report on three accidents with fire fighters, in 2005 and 2006 in Portugal and one in Spain (2005).
He coordinated five editions of an International Conference on Fire Science, and organized many other scientific meetings, Short-Courses, Training Courses and Seminars about forest fires.
In 2004 he and his team of ADAI received an award – El Batefuegos de Oro Award—or golden fire swatter—for excellence in international technical cooperation given by the Associacion para la Promocion de Actividades Socioculturales (APAS), with the support of Spanish fire managers and stakeholder.
Paulo Gil Lopes Martins
Paulo Gil Lopes Martins is the National Commander of Civil Protection Operations. He is graduated in Civil Protection by the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria and has several specialized Courses in the areas of Management and Emergency planning; Coordination of Emergency services in Civil Protection; Prevention and Protection against Fires in France; Forest Fires Advanced Management by the US Forest Service; Advanced Course on Forest Fires by the French Civil Protection Service; Management and Planning of Crisis; Risks and Hazards; Communication and Interaction with the Media and Journalism; Media Training; Leadership; Crisis communication; Radiations in Industry; Meteorology.
Paulo Martins was a lecturer in 87 National and International Conferences. He participated in 63 Technical Commissions and Working teams, representing the Portuguese Ministry of Internal Administration and the Ministry of Planning and Land Administration.
He published eleven articles on the subject of Civil Protection and Emergency.
He is an invited lecturer at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, at the Superior Institute of Education and Sciences of Lisbon, at the National Firefighters School and at the Engineering Institute of Lisbon.
> Study Tour, 18 to 19 November 2010
CONFERENCE Study tour program
Mafra and Sintra parks
18th and 19th November 2010
The Study Tour program proposes a well-balanced mix of culture topics and of themes presented on the agenda of the Conference. It is an excellent complement to the Conference and a good opportunity to know some very nice landscapes, to visit places of touristic and historical interest but also sites of relevance to fire management in Portugal.
18th November:
The Study Tour starts from Coimbra at 15.00 on Thursday, 18th of November, with scheduled return to Coimbra at 21.00 on Friday, 19th of November.
On the first day of the tour, participants will have the opportunity to visit Óbidos. This small town is located 100 km north of Lisbon is one of the most preferred tourist attractions in Portugal. Located on a hill and encircled by a fortified wall, this well preserved medieval town with its monuments, white houses, narrow winding streets and its massive castle has turned itself into an open-air museum and each one of its streets and corners looks like a postcard picture.
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Some views of the town of Óbidos. |
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After the visit to Óbidos the tour will proceed in direction of Mafra and Ericeira, where participants will be accommodated at a hotel near the Atlantic Ocean. Dinner will be served at the Hotel.
19th November:
The Second day of the Study Tour begins with a visit to Tapada Nacional de Mafra, a natural patrimony with unique forest and hunting features that has an area of over 800 hectares. This completely walled property was owned by the Royal Family that used it as a hunting and recreation ground. Two hours travel by articulated train will take you to the most interesting places such as the museum areas and the enclosed protected animals’ areas of the Tapada. Part of this Park was destroyed by a fire in 2003. The program of fire recovery and protection will be presented during the visit.
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Some views of the Tapada Nacional de Mafra |
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After lunch, participants will make a short visit to zones of Sintra-Cascais Natural Park in the surroundings of Sintra. The Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, that occupies approximately 145 km2, is one of the 13 Natural Parks of Portugal, and it has been protected since 1981. Participants will have an opportunity to enjoy the mix of natural park landscape with romantic architecture that appears particularly in Sintra.
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Some aspects of Sintra |
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From Sintra we will drive to Lisbon where there will be a short stop by 18.00 h at the Lisbon Airport allowing those who have flights to take on the same day to catch them. If you are flying from Lisbon later on you can stay at some Hotel. The bus will then return to Coimbra where arrival is expected by 20.30h. Dinner is not included on this day.
The cost of the Study Tour includes transportation by bus, meals and a one night stay in the Hotel plus entrances to all visits.
More details will be given as soon as they are available or by request.
When booking please indicate if you need a double or a single room and if you have any special dietary requirements.
Links of interest:
http://www.portugalvirtual.pt/_tourism/costadeprata/obidos/index.html
http://www.tapadademafra.pt/
> Recognition to Ricardo Velez
Dr. Ricardo Velez is a great person who is well known internationally for his leadership in the organization of the forest fire management system in Spain, for his contribution to promote international cooperation and to support the involvement of the scientific community.
From 1968 until his retirement in 2009 he has been the Head of the National Forest Fire Service of Spain (Ministry of Environment). In that capacity he served the several institutions to which he has been associated throughout his career and the entire Forest Fire Community not only in his Country and in Europe but in the World.
In spite of having retired from active service Dr. Ricardo Velez continues to serve the international community with his experience, knowledge and character that has afforded him the friendship and recognition from all who know him and his work.
During the 6th International Conference on Forest Fire Research we intend to devote a session dedicated to pay a simple but deserved homage to Dr. Ricardo Velez for his lifelong contribution to fire management.
Biographical note:
Since 1986 Ricardo Vélez has been Head of the National Forest Fire Service of Spain (Ministry of Environment) till 2009 when he retired from the Administration, He obtained his degree in Forest Engineering at the Polytechnical University of Madrid in 1963 and his Ph.D in 1967. The next year he was appointed forester in the National Forest Fire Service of Spain. Since then he has been involved in the development of the Forest Fire Data Base for Spain, the design of a system of fire danger alarm and the introduction and further spread of fire suppression aircrafts in Spain. He is presently coordinating a fleet of more than 65 aircrafts every fire season.
He has coordinated the awareness campaigns for fire prevention since the 70´s, promoting the use of not only the media (TV, press, etc) but mostly the direct contact with the rural population and the teachers and children at the schools. A special program of controlled burning adressed to the farmers has been designed by him.
Since the early 80’s he has established and further developed a system of training courses for the different levels of activities in fire management. He has been teaching on forest fire protection in many international courses (CIHEAM-Chania-Zaragoza, USAID-Arizona-Chile-México). Since 1989 these courses, designed for Latin American experts, are held every year in Spain under his direction, supported by the Spanish International Cooperation Agency.
He has participated as a consultant in FAO and WB missions in Guatemala, Panama, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Greece, Morocco, Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Benin and Cuba.
Ricardo Vélez is the Spanish representative on Forest Fires at the Permanent Forestry Committee of the European Union, and a member of the Team of Specialists on Forest Fire of the Joint FAO/ECE-ILO Committee on Forest Technology, Management and Training. He was elected as coordinator of the FAO Silva Mediterranea Fire Network in 1994.
He has participated like a member of the International Liaison Committee (ILC) of the International Wildfire Conferences held the first in Boston 1989, Vancouver 1997 and Sydney 2003 presenting the situation of forest fires in the Mediterranean Basin.. He was Coordinator General of the 4th International Wildfire Conference held in Sevilla, Spain in May 2007. with more than 1500 participants from 88 countries.
He has participated like a lecturer in the series of International Conferences on Wildfire Research organized by the University of Coimbra/ADAI at Coimbra and Luso, Portugal
In 2001 he was elected President of the Spanish Society of Forest Science (SECF). In such a role he organized the 4th Spanish Forestry Conference in 2005 with more than 1200 participants
He has published several books and a number of articles in technical magazines on forest fire management. He has coordinated the book “La defensa contra incendios forestales. Fundamentos y experiencias” (McGraw-Hill, 1336 pages, 1st Edition, Madrid 2000 and 2nd Edition, Madrid 2009).
After his retirement he is working like a consultant and giving lectures and courses for different bodies in Spain and abroad.
> Social Program, 15 to 17 November 2010
CONFERENCE SOCIAL PROGRAM
The Social Program of the Conference is organized specially for the accompanying persons of the participants. It consists of a three days program and will give its participants the opportunity to visit some cultural and historical places of Central Portugal and enjoy some marvels of Portuguese gastronomy accompanied by good Portuguese wines.
Date
Description
Departure
Arrival
15th November
Batalha and Fátima
9.00 h
19.00 h
16Th November
Coimbra
9.00 h
17.00 h
17th November
Aveiro and Ílhavo
9.00 h
18.30 h
Monday, 15th of November – Tour to Batalha and Fátima:
The tour starts from Coimbra at 9.00h, by bus with planned return at 19.00h.
In the morning, there will be a visit to the Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória, located in the city of Batalha. This magnificent example of Late Gothic architecture in Portugal was built in honor of the victory in the Battle of Aljubarrota, in 1385.
After lunch, the excursion will proceed to the Sanctuary of Fatima, one of the most important shrines of the world dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Visit to the documental exposition “Fátima Luz e Paz”, inaugurated in March 2010 and designed to remember the visits of the Roman Pontiffs to the Sanctuary of Fatima.
Tuesday, 16th of November – Tour in Coimbra:
Walking tour around the most important monuments of Coimbra.
The excursion starts at 9.00h from the Congress Hall from where the participants will travel by bus to the old campus of the University of Coimbra visiting the monuments of the Paço das Escolas (Joanine Library, Saint Michael´s Chapel, Sala dos Capelos, University Tower, Porta Ferrea and Via Latina). Then the visit proceeds on foot from the upper part of the town (Alta de Coimbra) to the down town (Baixa de Coimbra), visiting Sé Velha, the oldest Cathedral, passing through the Arco de Almedina, an archway that is cut through the old town's walls. The morning part of the tour will end with the visit of the impressive Renaissance church of Igreja de Santa Cruz.
After lunch in a restaurant on the Baixa de Coimbra, the excursion will continue with the visits to the Convent Santa Clara-a-Velha, located beside the River Mondego, and to the Quinta das Lagrimas, a hunting ground for the Portuguese royal family, known by its 18th century palace converted into a luxury hotel and by the Fountain of Tears that is related to the historical love legend of the future King D. Pedro and Dona Inês. The tour will end by 17.00 h. You must be prepared to walk along some old medieval streets.
Wednesday, 17th of November – Tour to Aveiro:
The tour starts from Coimbra at 9.00h, with planned return at 18.30h. The city of Aveiro, is one of the most beautiful cities of Portugal being known as the Venice of Portugal because of the water channels that cross the city. The bus visit to downtown of Aveiro will give a first impression of its beauty. A visit will be made to the Museum of Aveiro, established in the old Convent of Jesus and possess numerous galleries displaying one of the richest and largest sacred art collections in Portugal.
After the lunch the tour continues with a visit to the Vista Alegre Porcelain Factory famous for the beautiful fine hand-painted porcelain ware. The 19th century Factory is situated in Quinta da Ermida, with a Palace, a Chapel and various buildings around a large square. In the Historical Museum of Vista Alegre you will have the opportunity to see the collections in crystal, glass and porcelain, deriving from Vista Alegre factory production since 1824.
The tour will include also a visit to Ílhavo, a small town about 8 km from Aveiro.
Program Price: 200 € per person.
Cost of the 3 days tour includes: transport in bus, accompanying guide speaking in Portuguese and English, lunches and entrances for visiting monuments and museums.
We will organize the Social Program only if we have a minimum number of 20 participants registered. If the Social Program or parts of it are cancelled the corresponding fees will be returned.
More details will be given as soon as they are available or under request.
Links of interest:
http://www.uc.pt/en/informacaopara/visit/paco
http://www.turismodecoimbra.pt/
http://www.portugalvirtual.pt/_tourism/index.html
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/portugal/batalha-monastery
http://www.vistaalegre.pt/