Battery boom meets fire safety Energy storage in focus at the 2025 Braunschweig Fire Safety Days
Energy storage is considered a key technology in the energy transition. However, it also poses a new challenge for fire safety. The 39th edition of the Braunschweig Fire Safety Days from 30 September to 1 October 2025 will therefore be dedicated to current issues and research findings on this topic. This year, the conference will take place in the Audimax of Technische Universität Braunschweig.
The Braunschweig Fire Protection Days will focus on the risks posed by high-voltage storage systems and stationary battery systems. In the event of a fault, lithium-ion batteries can catch fire within seconds, releasing toxic gases and often proving difficult to extinguish. For planners, fire brigades and insurance companies, this means that new concepts are needed.
“With the introduction of energy storage systems in more and more buildings, the risk of fires with completely new dynamics is also growing,” says Professor Jochen Zehfuß, scientific conference director and head of the Fire Protection Department at the Institute for Building Materials, Solid Construction and Fire Protection (iBMB) at TU Braunschweig. “Our goal is to bring together the latest findings from research and practice in order to develop safe solutions for dealing with these technologies.”
The TU institute is investigating how quickly a fire spreads from densely stored drive batteries with lithium-ion technology and how this spread can best be limited in a joint project with the Munich Fire Department and the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin. The results of fire tests in the BEGIN-HVS project, which is funded as part of the ‘Research for Civil Security’ programme, will be presented by Professor Jochen Zehfuß and project team member Justus Frenz.
Keynote: Initiative for cost-reduced construction
The Fire Protection Days will open with a keynote speech on the topic of ‘Initiative for cost-reduced construction – The Hamburg Standard’. Karin Siebeck, former head of the Hamburg Office for Housing, Urban Renewal and Land Management, reports on how the initiative in the Hanseatic city aims to reduce the costs of new housing construction with cost-reducing building standards, optimised planning processes and accelerated procedures – a project of national significance.
The programme also includes innovations in fire alarm systems, fire protection in automated storage systems, new developments in model regulations for school construction and places of assembly, as well as usability certificates in timber construction and the simplification of digitisation projects. A special highlight is a look at Switzerland, where fire protection regulations are being further developed based on a risk-based approach. In addition, innovative fire protection solutions will be presented, including for timber construction, nursing homes and hospitals.
Trade exhibition and symposium
Around 35 exhibitors from across the German-speaking world will showcase the latest developments in products for structural, technical, defensive and organisational fire protection at a trade exhibition. The programme will be rounded off by the international symposium ‘Heißbemessung’ (Safety Design), at which national and international experts in the field of safety design and fire simulation will exchange ideas on 29 September. Twelve presentations will highlight various aspects of structural fire protection and fire dynamics. Another highlight will be the presentation of the nationwide unique Fire Protection Young Talent Award for outstanding student work on 30 September.
About the Fire Protection Days
The Braunschweig Fire Protection Days are among the most important fire protection conferences in the German-speaking world. Since 1987, around 600 engineers working in fire protection from building control authorities, fire brigades, insurance companies, engineering offices, industry, testing institutes and research facilities have been coming together at the invitation of the Institute for Building Materials, Solid Construction and Fire Protection at Technische Universität Braunschweig to exchange information and ideas.
Further information: www.brandschutztage.info