Prof Grunde Jomaas represented ZAG and the FRISSBE project at the Skopje Fire Safety Conference 2025, organised by the SFPE North Macedonia Chapter. The inaugural edition of this regional conference brought together fire protection engineers, researchers, policymakers, and industry professionals to discuss the evolving challenges and opportunities within modern fire safety engineering.

On 2^nd December, Prof Jomaas delivered his presentation in Session 3 The Challenges of the New Era, entitled: “From sparks to safety: Experimental insights into fire risk reduction for rooftop PV systems.”

His talk highlighted the increasing complexity of fire risks associated with rooftop photovoltaic installations and emphasised that, in fire safety, “the best fire is the one that never happened.” A core part of the presentation addressed pre-fire considerations, drawing on global data, such as those from Clean Energy Associates (CEA), which clearly show the numerous pathways leading to ignition events in PV systems.

The other main segments of his presentation focused on Detection, Ignition & Fire Spread (Membrane, insulation, geometry, panel type…), Detection and Robustness (Mitigation, insulation). You can see Prof Jomaas’ post about the even and Pre-fire considerations here

Later in the day, he served as Chair of Session 4 Standards and Regulations, together with Marija Jelčić Rukavina, facilitating discussions on the regulatory landscape and its crucial role in enhancing fire safety across sectors.

The Skopje Fire Safety Conference, supported by the global SFPE network, aims to strengthen fire protection engineering throughout the Balkan region. This first edition successfully created a dynamic platform for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and forward-looking dialogue, an effort to which Prof Jomaas was proud to contribute.