Stručni rad
Specialised Fire and Rescue Teams – Disaster Response Task Force
Klaudijo Filčić
orcid.org/0000-0002-1655-5583
; Vatrogasna zajednica Primorsko-goranske županije, Rijeka, Hrvatska
Sažetak
This paper addresses the need to establish specialised emergency response Fire and Rescue Teams within the Croatian Fire Service, for rapid deployment and an effective emergency response to major accidents and disasters.
The study presents the advantages of creating a permanent, pre-defined, fully equipped and staffed, trained and tested new concept of a Fire and Rescue Task Force – Special Operations Teams, at both - the regional and national level. This is based on existing solutions, examples of good practice in the European Union, and considerations of the national and institutional capabilities, instead of the current practice of ad hoc mobilisation of fire brigade elements. Such a task force would enable more effective intervention in any kind of situation requiring specialised knowledge or other special capabilities, ranging from complex incidents to disasters.
The paper presents several features of the fire brigade’s interventions in daily work and in extraordinary circumstances, with a presentation of some of the challenges the fire service faces in such conditions. Proposals are given for a new system of organisation of intervention units, based on the recognised risks and requirements for specific threats and for operational requirements to strengthen the current national civil protection capacities and develop additional capabilities in the field of fire and rescue.
The proposed organisational model is based on the global principles of self-sufficiency, interoperability and modularity, and the future Specialised Fire and Rescue Teams organised in this way will be fully compliant with the regulations of the Union Mechanism for Civil Protection, which defines such units as “modules”.
The Croatian Fire Service is one of the most important pillar of the national civil protection system in terms of its organisation, training, equipment, experience, manpower, and territorial coverage. Therefore, upgrading the existing specialised capabilities from “individual skills” into “team capabilities” is a key sequence towards upgrading the existing and developing additional national capacities.
By adopting the idea of Specialised Fire and Rescue Teams as part of the national Disaster Management Strategy, as a Union Civil Protection Mechanism Member State, the Republic of Croatia will obtain resources available to share in collective European emergency response operations for operating in the international environment, in accordance with relevant national regulations, and strategic documents, international guidelines and assumed obligations of membership in global associations, such as the UN, NATO and the EU.
Ključne riječi
risk; disaster; operational needs; self-sufficiency; interoperability; Specialised Fire and Rescue Teams; Union Mechanism for Civil protection; Module
Hrčak ID:
293360
URI
Datum izdavanja:
29.12.2022.
Posjeta: 461 *