On Monday, March 17, 2025, our Young Professional member Maximilian Zipplies shared his valuable experiences in disaster management on the television show “Wir in Bayern.” The trained rescue engineer had worked for several months with the professional fire department in Cape Town, gaining in-depth insights into the challenges of fire and disaster protection.
In Cape Town, flashover is a significant problem, as the city’s dense construction allows fires to spread rapidly in a short period. Additionally, access routes for fire trucks are often insufficient. Maxi reported that, in this context, he also accompanied a research project aimed at developing an artificial system to improve on-site incident management and safety. A special focus of this project is on mutual learning – both from the practice in South Africa and from the experiences in Germany. Maxi emphasized the importance of exchanging knowledge between networks to expand understanding of effective disaster management.
If you would like to learn more about his experiences with wildfires and his efforts to protect children and women in Cape Town, you can find the link to the German broadcast here. For more information about the Young Professionals, click here.