Polish Fire Service restructures Turkish Rescue System
On August 14, 2005, a selected group of 28 Turkish fire fighters arrived to Poland to take part in a training which the Polish Fire Service organized after having won a prestigious international project financed by the European Commission.The Turkish fire fighters from Sakarya and Kocaeli Provinces, destroyed by an earthquake in 1999, took and active part in the project entitled ?Fire Brigades Rehabilitation and Upgrading in the Greater Municipality of Adapazari, Province of Sakarya and the Greater Municipality of Kocaeli, Province of Kocaeli?.
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From August 15 till September 1, in the Central School of the State Fire Service, both the training and theory lectures in fire extinguishing in breathing apparatus were conducted as well as in the field of road rescue, emergency rescue and the work of Search and Rescue Teams. The training was carried out by the experts from the National Fire Service and Fire Schools.
The training was conducted in Turkish.
Polish Fire Service won two separate projects concerning the fire brigade rehabilitation in Sakarya and Kocaeli Province.
The project of Polish-German consortium beat the offers of Holland, France and Sweden. The reason to be pleased about is all the bigger as it was the Polish rescuers who until recently were trained in the training centres of the Western European countries.
The chief assets of our project were: good Polish-German cooperation (the consortium gives a chance to develop various activities), Polish fire fighters? experience, high appraisal of Polish Search and Rescue Teams taking part in rescue operations after the earthquake struck Kocaeli and Sakarya Province in 1999, further more, the detailed, precise and diligent offer as well as a very good training base in the Central School of the state Fire Service in Częstochowa, together with its best fire fighting ground in Poland.
The projects were financed by the European Union within the framework of MERP (the Marmara Earthquake Rehabilitation Programme) and by Caritas International.
In May 2005 Polish experts worked in Turkey; they participated in two 2-weeks? long trips. They fulfilled the training component which involved analising the training system in Turkey, preparing the guidelines to draw up the standard training programmes, designing the training ground for search and rescue teams as well as the training facilities intended for theory teaching and conferences. The series of 8-days? long trainings were also prepared for local fire fighters, police officers, civil defense representatives and non-governmental organizations carrying out the tasks connected with safety. Turkish fire fighters? capabilities in giving medical aid were analised as well as local security plans from the medical rescue point of view. Local authorities and rescue services had also a chance to participate in the workshops on multidisciplinary approach to safety issues.
The objective of this programme was to improve the living conditions of this region, to support the reconstruction of economy, to resume the economic growth and to develop the institutional framework of crisis management in case of disasters together with the mitigation of its effects.
The aim of selected activities to the project was to strengthen the rescue service?s efficiency and ensured their efficiency not only in case of one-time but also in long-term needs. The aim of this project was also to expand and consolidate the local level capacities for disaster planning, preparedness and response in case of disasters and substantially enhance the institutional capacities disaster risk management and mitigation consistent with level of EU practices. The project also heightened the efficiency in planning and in introducing the own management and rescue actions of local authorities and organizations.
The local training programme was not only profitable for the fire service from proposed regions of Turkey but also for other organizations jointly responsible for crisis management, including professional and voluntary fire brigades in further situated cities and provinces.
The transfer of basic and technical/specialized knowledge to the wide public opinion contributed to the preparation and adjustment of more advanced disasters response plans.
The training for fire trainers/instructors allowed constant and growing development of professional skills of many people and organizations dealing with various aspects of disaster response.
The training was divided into 3 stages (which included in total 34 working days ? 16 in Poland, 8 in Germany, 10 in Turkey).
Statystyki wyjazdów szkolnego JRG w roku 2009.
