Minister Krstičević attends conference “Fires in Croatia: Protection and Prevention 2019”

The Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia and Defence Minister Damir Krstičević on 26 November 2018 attended the conference titled “Fires in Croatia: Protection and Prevention 2019”, organised by the daily “Jutarnji list“ with the support of the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Forest Administration AKD Zaštita (security firm) and the company “Transmitters and Connections“.

Minister Krstičević took part in a panel discussion titled “Fire Prevention in 2019”, presenting  suggestions to upgrade security and fire prevention alongside the Minister of Agriculture Tomislav Tolušić, the Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović, by the Director of Croatian Forestry Administration (Hrvatske šume) Kruno Jakupčić, by the Chief Firefighter Commander Slavko Tucaković, by the Director of the National Protection and Rescue Directorate Dragan Lozančić, and by the Head Croatian Mountain Rescue Service Vinko Prizmić.

Minister Krstičević extended warm appreciation to all firefighters, pilots and aviation technicians, to members of the Croatian Armed Forces  and of the police, to the the staff of the National  Protection and Rescue Directorate and of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, and to the citizens too for their engagement during the Firefighter Season 2018.

The Minister said that the establishment of the homeland security system had yielded excellent results in the very first year of operation and improved the communication among the components and accelerated the response. “We have built a system based on a partnership for security, on unity, joint operation of all components, local community and citizens”. 

The Minister underlined that the new Operations Firefighting Command established at Divulje  and its Situations Centre enabled real-time transfer of imagery  and notable improvement with respect to the last year’s season. 
“The Firefighting Operations Command has enabled quick infomation flow and timely decision making and engagement of personnel and assets. The Command showcased the national-level synergy and readiness to respond to fires. The preventative surveillance and operation by the Command and of the overall homeland security system have directly reduced the incidence of fires”, said the Minister. 
“The firefighter season 2018 saw the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for fire prevention reconnaissance and aerial shooting and situational awareness as well as the use of foam extinguishers, which increased the firefighting efficectiveness”, said the Minister.

The Chief of the General Staff presented the decision-making process in the Firefighting Operations Command: “The Ministry of Defence and the Croatian Armed Forces have delegated authority to junior levels,thus enabling faster decision-making at a given time and intervention of the forces and assets of the Croatian Armed Forces”. 

The Conference was also attended by the Defence and National Security Advisor and Envoy of the President of the Republic of Croatia Vlado Galić, by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Tomislav Tolušić, by the  Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović, by the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces General Mirko Šundov, by the Director of Military Security and Intelligence Agency  Brigadier General Ivica Kinder, by the Commander of the Croatian Army  Major General Sinaša Jurković, by the COmmander of the Croatian Air Force Brigadier General Mato Mikić, by the Commander of the General Staff Operations Centre Brigadier General Krešo Tuškan by the Commander of the Guards Mechanised Brigade Brigadier General Tihomir Kundid, by the Commander of the Firefighter Squadron of the 93rd Air Base of the Croatian Air Force Major Tomislav Vacenovski, by General Mladen Markač (Ret.), by the CEO of Croatian Forest Administration Krunoslav Jakupčić, by the Chief Firefighting Commander Slavko Tucaković, by the Chairman of the Croatian Firefighting Association Ante Sanader, by the Director of the National Protection and Rescue Director Dragan Lozančić, by the Head of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service Vinko Prizmić and the Prefect of Zadar County Božidar Longin.

The participants discussed key issues and activities undertaken within the 2018 firefighting season and the strategies to upgrade the fire prevention and sanitation of affected  areas in the year 2019.

The Commander of the Firefighter Squadron of the Croatian Air Force Major Tomislav Vacenovski presented firefighting characteristics  of the Canadair aircraft and its utility in humanitarian assistance missions. Major Vacenovski underlined the importance of prevention at localities hardly accessible to Canadairs.
 
The keynote presentation on the results of the firefighter season 2018 and the set of measures and proposals for the year 2019 was delivered by  the Chief Firefighting Commander Slavko Tucaković, who stressed that the data on fires and affected areas revealed a far calmer 2018, with lesser damage for  citizens and their properties and  tourists, thanks to the joint efforts by the  Ministry of Defence , the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Agriculture, the firemen and all components of the homeland security system, as well as to the weather conditions and raised awareness on the risk of fires and the repressive measures. “In the Firefighter Season 2018 68% less fires and 96% less affected areas compared to the 10-year mean values. It is necessary to continue upgrading the preventive measures at all levels”.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Transmitters and Communications company   Mato Botica presented the system of early fire detection cameras based on the “OIV Fire Detect Al”, and stressed  that early interventions facilitated fire extinguishing. The system integrates 86 cameras installed  at 43 locations under biggest risk of fires, that are operated from four county operations coordination centres (Zadar, Šibenik, Split and Dubrovnik). Montenegro, Greece and Italy expressed interest in the system.  

Nikolaos Iliopoulos, the head of firefighting operations and meteorologist of the Fire Operational Coordination Centre in Athens spoke of the large fires ravaging  during the summer and stressed that Greece, the same as Croatia, managed to reduce the number of fires and the affected surface and used an advanced incident management system.

In the period 1 January – 18 November the National Protection and Rescue Directorate placed as many as 190 requests for intervention, responded to with  2,325 flights, 10,711 tons of water dropped on firesites and 2,538 litres of foam extinghuisher used.