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 Recas, Romania, 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 fire protection and further activities which will contribute to development of the Study for these two municipalities. Dr Mihailo Ratknic has presented the requests and needs of Municipality Zagubica, as well as proposed methodology for development of the Study. According to dr Ratknic, methodology is based on 4 segments of fire risk management, namely related to:
– Preparedness during the period of extreme danger of occurrence of forest fires,
– Preventive fire protection of forests, with analysis for concrete area and defining the most efficient manners of preventive protection, taken into account type of area and vegetation, possibility of application of biological and technical protection measures, arrangement, climatic and orographic characteristics, as well as the history of fires at certain territory. During the Workshop, Romanian partners have also pointed out the importance of Study development and elements influencing fire protection at the territory of the Municipality Recas, Romania.
During discussions at this event, a special part of the Study development has been accentuated, related to rehabilitation of terrain in Municipalities Recas and Zagubica, for which classification would be done as well as a proposal for possible application of rehabilitation for defined and concrete areas.
Furthermore, one of the conclusions of the Workshops pointed that Study that is being developed by the two cross-border municipalities, should be based on decreasing and elimination of so far identified insufficiencies in the sector of fire protection and acting in emergency situations, with special focus at:
– Decreasing the number of fires in concrete areas, especially forest fires and fires in forest areas with strict application of the system with greater scope and efficiency. That would be realized by monitoring of concrete areas, fore and foremost the number of occurred fires by application of the management method.
– Decreasing material damages and other damages caused by occurred forest fires, decreasing burned surfaces, decrease in degraded forest and forest land. This part of the Study will focus on concrete areas, by monitoring the number of occurred fires, surfaces caught by fire, material direct and indirect damages.
During the Workshops, the following activities were also agreed on, namely related to other segments of the Study development in terms of organization of another two thematic workshops and two video conferences during the months of April, May and June.
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 1.415.219,40 euro, of which European union is financing 1.202.936,48 euro, and Municipalities Recas and Zagubica are co-financing the project with 212.282,92 eur.
