The second seminar of the semester at our Department, held on November 5, was dominated by the topic of (paleo)fires. In her presentation titled “Climate and human impacts on fire regimes recorded in lake sediments: current state and future outlook,” Alicja Bonk presented a synthesis of her work on reconstructing past fires from lake sediments, ranging from case studies and methodological innovations to broader syntheses. Even though it is November, we can safely say it was hot!