UNMIK/FR/0058/01
FEATURE RELEASE - 20
July 2001
Public Services
Fire and Rescue Service: Full 'Kosovarization' in Mind
By Sergei Vinogradov
Neville Fouche, Chief, Fire and Rescue Service (FRS), is a man with a
mission in life. "We must first assist the municipalities, teach
them how to run fire services, give them all the means they need,"
he says. "And once we make sure they have the necessary equipment
and know-how, we will do the handover. This is our major goal for the
moment."
The official date when the handover is set to begin is 1 January 2002.
By the end of 2002, according to the plan, all such services should fall
under the municipal command. Thus three birds will have been killed with
one stone, three objectives attained: decentralization, 'Kosovarization,'
as well as increased efficiency and faster response by FRS.
FRS is currently run by the Department of Civil Security and Emergency
Preparedness. It has 500 local fire fighters and 11 international staff
attached to 21 fire stations throughout Kosovo. Ten more stations will
be established before the final handover, thus covering all of the province's
municipalities, including those in the northern Serb communities.
Training on more than one front
Of course, training is of key importance. Under an agreement with the
Kosovo Police School in Vushtrri/Vucitrn, the FRS trains all its future
fire fighters there. In the first half of 2001, some 70 graduates were
added to the service, and by the end of the year another 60 positions
will be available as a result of new stations opening, and the need to
bring staffing tables of existing ones to acceptable levels.
But training is not limited to fire-fighting. Graduates must also be able
to deal with other threats--for example, those posed by hazardous chemicals.
The FRS has prepared a list of about 65 sites containing such chemicals,
some of which are a real hazard, not only to the environment but also
to people living nearby. If a leak occurs and the chemical spillout is
moving in a particular direction, the people affected must be speedily
evacuated.
Training yields results. At a recent international fire-fighting tournament
in South Africa, a world-class competition, six fire fighters from Kosovo-four
Albanians and two Serbs--came in fifteenth, beating the teams from South
Africa, Spain, Scotland and Zimbabwe, contingents boasting very high ratings.
"What is more," says Fouche, "our guys did co-operate and
interact among themselves without any problems-there were absolutely no
ethnically-motivated tensions, no tensions at all".
Problems, too, on more than one front
Unfortunately, tensions-or non-cooperation--persist in some parts of Kosovo.
For example, Mitrovica North and Mitrovica South each has its own fire
station which serves only its respective parts of town. Fouche strongly
disapproves of this: "Just imagine how good it would be if an Albanian
team came to put down a fire in a Serbian quarter, and vice versa? This
could help drastically reduce ethnic tensions-for how can you treat people
who came to save your house from burning to ashes like enemies?"
Other problems exist as well. The FRS depends on donations from different
countries. For example, the United States, United Kingdom and Germany
have supplied equipment and fire engines. But although FRS now has enough
fire engines, the engines are too old-some of them date back 40 years.
They still can be used, but the FRS needs more advanced machinery.
Another example is the hydraulic ladders. A good hydraulic ladder can
last for 50 years. There are only two of them for all of Kosovo! These
ladders are expensive -- not a piece of equipment that is generally donated
-- but to get more, more funds are needed.
At times equipment is distributed unevenly, because some countries opt
to donate it to specific municipalities-those where they have military
contingents and which fall under their purview. So sectors under the control
of wealthy countries get a lot of equipment, while other municipalities
receive almost nothing. The FRS wants to change this trend: the new municipal
fire chiefs will be able to take pieces of equipment they do not need
and allocate them to a neighbouring municipality.
The FRS is also requesting funds for an insurance scheme for its fire-fighters,
because theirs is a high-risk profession. It wants to ensure that if somebody
gets injured or dies, some money will be paid to the victim or his family.
Such a scheme will also be taken over by the municipalities.
Note for editors
The full document may be
consulted online in English at http://www.unmik.org/. Albanian and
Serbian versions can be provided.
For a selection of photographs, please contact Mr Ky Chung at 038 504-604 ext. 5467
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FRS to the rescue |