Successful cooperation between Nikšić and Trebinje firefighters in “Be Ready” project
This cross-border cooperation project falls under one of the EU IPA components supporting socioeconomic growth, solution of common issues in environment protection and cultural cooperation in cross-bo...
This cross-border cooperation project falls under one of the EU IPA components supporting socioeconomic growth, solution of common issues in environment protection and cultural cooperation in cross-border areas.
The “Be ready” project was implemented by the Foundation for Development of Northern Montenegro together with the Protection and Rescue Services of Municipality Nikšić and the Territorial Firefighting Unit Trebinje. The goal of the project was to help prevent forest fires in cooperation with local communities and improve the capacity to manage fires and natural disasters in the border area between Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Danko Vuković, the Commander of the Territorial Firefighting Unit Trebinje, recognized the value of the donated protective gear that hugely improved the work of his unit.
“Equipment is the alpha and omega for firefighters. If a firefighter is unprotected, he cannot properly execute his duties. As you can see, they are now fully protected. They can enter facilities they could not before merely because they lacked protective gear that can sustain high temperatures. When it comes to fires, the most common are forest fires, followed by fires in closed structures such as business facilities and apartments. We also have cases of vehicles burning. These uniforms enable us to access burning vehicles – an example of a high temperature fire. We could not access burning vehicles until now, but had to fight such fires from a distance,” said Danko.
Deputy Commander of Territorial Firefighting Unit Trebinje, Neđo Ćuk, stresses the high standard of donated equipment.
“Any help, any donation to firefighters, for us, is highly significant. The 2011/2012 donation was very important for Trebinje firefighters. We received 30 intervention uniform sets including jacket, pants, helmet, flashlight, protective boots. These are high quality uniforms that meet European standards,” said Neđo.
Based on previous experience, Neđo believes that this form of cooperation is beneficial and that the very exchange of experience from different countries, regions and cities itself significantly contributes to the readiness of the firefighters.
“Many actions have proved the great value of this equipment. We managed to respond to each situation more efficiently, responsibly, professionally and faster, with fewer consequences and, trust me, we managed to save many lives. Each exercise, each conversation with a colleague from Nikšić or Sarajevo is of particular importance, not only the exercise. It is the experience transferred from one area to another,” said Neđo.
A firefighter from the Territorial Firefighting Unit Trebinje, representative of a younger generation, Goran Zirević, was actively involved in the local community education programme.
“What I love the most is to help people. That is what makes me feel good about myself. Along with joint training activities, we had lectures in two primary and one secondary school. We also had lectures in local communities where we informed people of preventive protection from open fires.”
The training improved the work of the firefighting service which is now more ready to execute the tasks of prevention and extinguishing of fires.
“Training experience and joint exercises in firefighting helped us a lot, especially when identifying the most common cause of fire and managing fires. After this project, the number of open fires significantly decreased,” Goran added.
The “Be ready” project strengthened the cooperation of Nikšić and Trebinje firefighters which will continue to the benefit of both communities.
