29 th MAY 1 st JUNE 2018 Carcavelos, PORTUGAL ENHANCEMENT OF - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

ENHANCEMENT OF WILDLAND FIRE SUPPRESSION IN CROATIA – A CHALLENGE FOR TRAINING OF VOLUNTEERS REPORT OF THE CROATIAN FIREFIGHTING ASSOCIATION

Mario Starčević, Secretary of Operativ-technical Headquarter of the Croatian Firefighting Association

EFSCA ANNUAL MEETING CONFERENCE & GENERAL ASSEMBLY 29th MAY – 1st JUNE 2018 Carcavelos, PORTUGAL

In general about the firefighting system in Croatia

56.542 km2, 4,28 Million inhabitants, 21 county fire- fighting associations, 62 thousand operativ firefighters, from which 3.500 professional 1.827 volunteer fire-fighting units, 88 professional brigades ( from which 67 territorial, 21 in the economy), 3.742 fire-fighting vehicles 6 Canadair CL 415, 6 Air-tractors and 2 Mi 8 helicopters - under the iurisdiction of the Ministery of defense; At about 40.000 interventions a year, from which 1/3 fires, 1/3 technical, 1/3 others

HR

The Republic of Croatia: a Mediterranian, but also an middle- European country 1.400 km of cost, 80 inhabited islands, 1.000 islands

• 1. Education of volunteer fire-fighters in Croatia, with

parts referring to wildland (forest) fires

Education- program

Cadets (hours) Firefighters (hours) Subofficers (hours) Officers (hours) Theoretic Practical

Theoretic Practical Theoretic

Practical

Theoretic

Practical

Hours 20 20 34 40 39 44 58

42

Alltogether 40 74 83 100

• 1. Basic achieved knowledge- to

be able to be a fire-fighter

Burning and extinguishing fires: 4 hours theoretical Fire prevention: 4 hours theoretical Appliances and equipment: 8 hours theoretical, 2 hours practical Fire-fighting exercises: 3 hours theoretical, 29 hours practical Fire-fighting tactics: 8 hours theoretical, 5 hours practical Organization of the fire-protection system: 4 hours theoretical Technical service in fire-fighting: 4 hours theoretical, 4 hours practical

1.1. Fire-fighting school- education

• f professional fire-fighters

The Croatian Firefighting Association educates professional fire-fighters in Split and Rijeka (in average 50 participants in each town)  2 kinds of education of professional fire-fighters: * fire-fighter: 1058 hours, 70 % practical * fire-fighting technician: 1151 hours, 70 % practical

1.1. Additional education for suppression

• f wildland fires
• Training program for wildland fires (not mandatory): 20 h (3 days), for

volunteer fire-fighters, army members, physical performanse: Cooper test, distance jump, "abdominal", "skulls", ski squat

• Training program for helicopter-desant on wildland fires (mandatory): 30 h (5

days), for volunteer fire-fighters, members of professional fire brigades, army members, checking of physical abilities: power, explosive power, strength

• endurance, endurance, speed
• Training program for commanders of intervention for guidance of aircrafts

(mandatory): 40 h (5 days), minimum unit leader of professional fire brigade, commander of volunteer fire brigade or fire-fighting association

• Education for using ICT aplication „Fire management” for fire-fighting

commanders (not mandatory): 16 h (2 days)

• 2. System of preparing the fire-fighting system for summer

season: program of special activities of fire-protection and fire-fighting

1.100 season fire-fighters, members of volunteer fire brigades (50 % payed by Government, 50% by local municipalities); Dislocation of forces from continent to cost: fire- fighting command center (Divulje), units and equipmnet; Special meassures of fire prevention, surveillance and supervision;

3.a. Meassures to be improved:Fire protection and fire inspection

The fire-inspectors are employies of the Ministery of the interior; Also exist fire-inspectors for inspection of fire- brigades within the National Directorat for protection and rescue; The fire-fighting commanders can get special powers to supervise the implementation of prescribed preventive fire protection measures; Goals:

• Integrated system of suppression-prevention-recovery,

recognized role of fire-fighting commanders (professional and volunteers)

• Better Fuel management
• Better communication between government, districts and

municipalities

3.b Fire statistics

Clear: exponential growth of number of wildland fires Average age of vehicles: 22 years, 1.024 fire-fighting vehicle

• lder than 30 years

2.000 4.000 6.000 8.000 10.000 12.000 Number of wildland fires Number of structure fires Number of fires Year: 1980-2017

Fire statistics in Croatia 1980-2017

3.b Fire statistics

2017 was the most catastrophic year regarding wildland fires in South Croatia (Dalmatia): 88.000 ha burnt area, 110 injured fire-fighters

3.c. Meassures to be improved:ICT/Telecommunications

In the Republic of Croatia fire-fighters use analog and digital telecommunications system (analog, digital: TETRA, DMR); The analog repetitors are maintained by the Ministery of the interior/National directorate for protection and rescue/Fire-fighting Associations; Goal: Unique national telecommunication net for all civil protection units In implementation: EU project of education for Integration of ICT-solutions: central data base of all fire-fighting units-17 moduls, fire protection plans, tracking and GIS (GIS Cloud technology, two-way communication), video- surviallance, alarm system (by voice call and SMS), unique fire-management of interventions of 193 and 112 call/alarm centers, dangerous goods (public portal, portal for fire-units), propagation model

3.d Bilateral agreements

Croatia ha special bilateral agreements with Bosnia and Hercegowina for suppression of wildland fires Reason: Very often big wildland fires jump over into Croatia and make big damages Also local agreements are made in South Croatia: immadiately, also when small wildland fires occure along the border, fire-fighters from Croatia step immadiately into Bosnia and Herzegowina Need for regular exercises

3.e Public relations

The Croatian Firefighting Association:

• publishes each Month a fire-fighting newspaper, available for free on web-site

since 2007 on http://www.hvz.hr/arhiva-vatrogasnog-vjesnika/

• ensures actual information on current events on web-site

(http://www.hvz.hr/)

• publishes instructions for citizens on public and private TV (6) and public and

private radio (6)

• prints leaflets for fire-prevention

Conclusion: short term meassures

• Empower fire-fighting commanders in fire-inspection/Extend the

competencies of fire organizations (in fire prevention)

• Educate fire-fighters to use new technologies (ICT)
• Training: include training for preventive burning in wildland

fire suppression training/educate firefighters to set counter- fires (opearativ burning)

Conclusion: middle term meassures

• Ensure decentralized financial resources for all fire fighting units

(municipalities)

• Conduct EU projects for the renovation of fire fighting houses,

exercise-grounds, vehicles and equipment

• Provide unique geographic maps for all civil protection units,

improve applications of new technologies: ICT, satellite and video surveillance

• Expand the preventive campaign for citizen (and tourist) regarding

behavioral measures

• Determine the suitability of used firefighting equipment and

techniques (normization and standardization)

Conclusion: long term meassures

• Reduce the surface of untreated and abandoned land
• Prevent the "habit" of burning weeds during high-risk of fire
• Introduce bio-mass management procedures
• Increase penalties for deliberate burning during the fire

season

• Establish a unique tax on unprocessed land

Thank you very much!