As a part of the Project “Firefighters and emergency management Recas-Zagubica” and with objective to develop a Study of protection against fire and acting in emergency situations in Municipalities Recas and Zagubica, a Thematic workshop has been organized in Zagubica, during which representatives of these local communities with experts in the sector of fire protection have analyzed current state in these areas.
Thematic workshop has been organized for the representatives of the local communities and was also attended by experts from Romania and Serbia, who analyzed the current state in the sector of emergency situations and further activities which will contribute to development of the Study for these two municipalities. During the thematic workshop, Representatives of Recas and experts Joan Sasu and Konstantin Karaivan spoke of the draft Study in the fire protection sector and acting in emergency situations.
Dr Mihailo Ratknic has presented the draft of the Study developed for Municipality Zagubica and proposed an initiative for further acting of Municipality Zagubica with special accent on the measures that need to be taken on order to eliminate risks, in particular in the local communities which are at greater threat of fires including Municipality Zagubica, but he also has pointed out other possible emergency situations and possible disasters. During the thematic workshop, Dr Mihailo Ratknic has stressed the need to develop and improve the data base related to history of events and the need to decrease potential risks by clearly defined procedures related to maintenance and regular updating or those data bases or information systems. Besides improving information data base related to past events, it is necessary to further improve and adjust information base, in order to provide support to other phases of the integral risk management cycle. According to Raktnic, all disasters are divided into 2 groups: natural disasters and technological disasters. Natural are further divided to 6 sub-groups: Geo-physical, Meteorological, Hydrological, Climatological, Biological and Extra-terrestrial. Each of the mentioned sub-groups is broken down to basic types, sub-types, and sub-subtypes of disasters.
When it comes to fires, at Thematic workshop in Zagubica, it has been pointed that statistical data shows that in Serbia over 94% of the forest fires are caused by men, most commonly out of ignorance, unintentionally or deliberately. In 2% of the cases, causes of the forest fires relate to natural occurrences or other causes, but the number of fires for which the cause has not been determined is not to be dismissed as well. In order to decrease the number of occurrences of forest fires, it is necessary to influence the level of education of population during the fire season, by pedagogic, educational and informational measures. By various warnings, educational lectures and presentations, people may be influenced with objective to decrease the occurrence of forest fires. Educational, informational and warning measures are delivered by appropriate engagement in schools and media (newspapers, radio and television) at local, regional and national level. During the workshop, experts have stressed the importance of planning biological and technical fire protection measures. These measures facilitate the decreased self-regulatory defense mechanisms of the forest and help them in decreasing the threat of fires. That is particularly important for the forests of the First and Second degree of threat, but it is also recommended to be applied to other forest stands as well. The main objective of cultivation of mixed forests at the areas being afforested, is to avoid creation of the forest made of single type trees presenting easily flammable burning material. All biological and technical protection measures have an objective to create conditions which will disable spreading of occurred fires, as well as to ensure the conditions for successful extinguishing of the occurred fires.
During the workshop, the further activities related to finalization of the study have been also agreed on, and during the next months one more thematic workshop will be organized.
Main objective of the Project “Firefighters and emergency management Recas-Zagubica” is to improve conditions for emergency situation response in cross-border communities, strengthen local stakeholders and contribute to more efficient action in fire protection cases, which will altogether significantly contribute to decrease of the damages caused by fires. Activities implemented through this project will identify current situation related to potential risks, define emergency situation response and action strategy, and enhance information and knowledge of citizens in the area of environment protection. Project also envisions procurement of firefighting vehicles and equipment which will contribute to more efficient and faster response in cases of fires, as well as establishment of volunteer firefighting team
Project “Firefighters and emergency management Recas-Zagubica” is being implemented within the Cross-border cooperation Programme Romania-Serbia financed by the European union, through the Instrument of Pre-accession assistance (IPA II). Implementation of the Project has begun in June 2017 and will last until the November 2018. Total budget of the Project amounts 1.414.018 euro, of which European union is financing 1.201.915,30 euro, and Municipalities Recas and Zagubica are co-financing the project with 212.102.70 euro.
