Volunteer firefighters: a chance to improve Hungarian firefightingTibor Dobson Voluntary firefighting – opportunities for further developmentThe improvement of our country’s fire protection situation and of the efficiency of firefighting is possible by the better involvement of HFA’s member organizations. During the last years there was an advance in it, as well as in the subsidy of voluntary firefighting. Our author suggests to include in the system the majority of the presently approved 689 voluntary firefighting associations for a further development, as according to his point of view the present arriving time could be significantly reduced by that.
Main goal: the improvement of the people’s protection A fire can be controlled efficiently within 10-15 minutes of its start. Due to this, in case of an arrival after 20-25 minutes the rescue of lives and other values is reduced significantly or even cannot be solved. That’s why we count with 15 minutes arrival time for a successful intervention, and this is true in case of eg. road accidents also, with the detail that the rescue of the injured and the necessary interventions for assuring life functions could be started within that time. Knowing this, significant efforts have been made to reduce the arrival time of firefighters in the last decades. Municipal firefighting brigades, disaster management and voluntary firefighting units have been founded. Today 105 professional fire brigades, 42 disaster management units, 60 municipal fire brigades and 689 voluntary firefighting associations are functioning countrywide. In the meantime 63 voluntary firefighting associations assumed the obligations and tasks related to independent interventions. All this resulted that the number of settlements increased where the quicker arrival is assured, but in significant areas the first intervening unit arrives after a long time. According to my opinion the wanted 15 minutes arrival time could be reached by the more intensive involvement of the voluntary firefighting associations in even more areas. The efficient help is depending on two things: celerity and hitting efficiency.
The task of the first intervening firefighting unit is the realization of life rescue, the protection of animals, material values and of the environment, as well as the prevention of the damage extension. In case of a fire the intervention within 10-15 minutes makes possible
Accessibility within 15 minutes The actual location of the professional and municipal fire brigades in the country does not assure the accessibility within 15 minutes and the first efficient intervention in each place. Due to this the improvement of coverage can be solved by the foundation of new firefighting units, which could be realized cost-efficiently by the transformation of the existing voluntary firefighting associations into voluntary firefighting brigades. To this there is a need for:
Interventions and costs in 2022 In 2022 89725 cases emerged. From these 59352 needed firefighting intervention. This meant 162 interventions as a daily average. 98,78% of the cases could be handled by 1 or 2 vehicles which shows the importance of quick arrival, calling our attention to the search of solutions described above. From this point of view the run of interventions is remarkable:
In the meantime, after the earlier increase, from 2017 the then 556 organizations got 600 million HUF subsidy, in average 1,079 million HUF, and in 2023 the then 689 organizations got also 600 million HUF, in average 0,87 million HUF. During that time the inflation was 31,55% according to KSH (National Statistical Office, thus the real value of 2017’s subsidy decreased by 45%. This value does not include 2023’s inflation data which further decreases this value and does not reflect the growing costs of the increasing number of interventions of the last years, eg. the cost of energy, fuel and revisions necessary for functioning and maintenance. There would be a need for the increase of material costs to assure the tranquil functioning of the municipal fire brigades due to the growing operational costs in 2024, eg. the higher prices of electricity, gas, overhead, fuel, services and other material goods, as well as for the increase of full-time firefighters’ wages according to the minimum wage defined in Labor Act. The norm covers the monthly costs only partially, without the additional subsidy their operation cannot be financed from self-effort.
The role of volunteers is essential Based on all this it can be anticipated that it is expedient to improve regional coverage following the present way in order to have firefighting organizations nearer to the cases’ locations, preventing the possibility of major damages. The high running performance of professional units’ firefighting vehicles due to interventions in big distance and the related quick amortization is a national feature. With the further decrease of arrival time the related problems can partially cease, at the same time the acquisition of more vehicles, but with smaller capacity, can be reasonable. With the arrival within 15 minutes, and with less developed technical and human conditions more than 90% of the cases can also be managed within one hour. The elimination of bigger or long lasting cases (eg. flood, inland water, snowing, extended fires in the nature) or of sequential cases (eg. wind storms, accidents) need significant human resource. These can solved efficiently by the integration of volunteers into this system. In case of rarely occurring cases interventions need special equipment and knowledge (eg. alpine technique, diving, and rescue from depth or from a height. The training for these is very costly (equipment, training, maintenance). For this reason it is advisable to impress those special associations which perform these activities during their daily routine. The peak alarm periods happen mainly during the so called vegetation-fire period or during a wind storm and extraordinary rains. In such cases technical and human resource deficit emerges,
Mass or long-lasting cases For the management of these problems I suggest the operation of voluntary units beside the professional brigades. Advantages of the system:
With the integration of the local voluntary forces the conditions of the intervention within 15 minutes for the first intervening units can be established. For this it is necessary to develop and to unify the voluntary firefighting associations, which are categorized according to the protection challenges of the defended location (region) transformed into voluntary fire brigades, and which participate in the unified protection system cooperating with the municipality in an obligatory way. This development must include the definition of technical conditions besides the rethinking of legal and organizational framework. This can mainly solve the peak time human resource deficit which was described as the second problem, as the faster arrival, the larger territorial fragmentation and the bigger staff concentrated in one area make possible a faster remedial action (eg. wind storm in Szabolcs county, floods). As the structure of the interventions shows, with the development of voluntary forces quicker and cheaper firefighting and technical rescue is possible locally. For this vehicles which can be driven with „B” type driving license, would be necessary. Tibor Dobson ff. Brigadier General President of HFA
Interventions of the non-professional firefighters
Overall interventions of the non-professional firefighters
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Magyar Tűzoltó Szövetség
Elnök: Dobson Tibor tűzoltó vezérőrnagy
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Elnök: Dobson Tibor tűzoltó vezérőrnagy
Cím: 1081 Budapest, Dologház u. 1.
Telefon: +36 1 433 4001
E-mail: office@tuzoltoszovetseg.hu
E-mail: office@tuzoltoszovetseg.hu