Training and exercise of rescuers from Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina – Trebinje 2015

A cross-border training on extinguishing forest fires for 44 members of protection and rescue services and voluntary firefighting association from 5 municipalities from Montenegro and 10 municipalities from BiH was organised in Trebinje from 16 to 20 November.
The training and exercise were organized within the project “Cross-border Fire Protection” funded by the European Union through Cross-border Cooperation Programme BiH-Montenegro and implemented by FORS Montenegro, Directorate for Emergency Management of the Ministry of Interior of Montenegro, Ministry of Security of BiH and the Institute for Protection of Fires and Explosions from Sarajevo.

In order to strengthen capacity of professional and voluntary rescuers, the following topics were elaborated during the training: extension of forest fires, methods of extinguishing, dangers and precautionary measures, modern methods of locating, informing and monitoring of open space fires, coordination of actions during extinguishing, first aid during extinguishing, extinguishing from air vehicles, etc. The training was delivered by experts from Serbia, Croatia and BiH and all participants were awarded certificates.
On the last day of the training, a cross-border demonstration exercise “Trebinje 2015” was organised, which gathered participants from professional and voluntary units from the target municipalities: Nikšić, Plužine, Šavnik, Žabljak i Pljevlja iz Crne Gore i Trebinje, Bileća, Gacko, Foča, Čajniče, Konjic, Jablanica, Stolac, Ravno i Mostar iz Bosne i Hercegovine, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Security of BiH, Ministry of the Interior of Montenegro – Directorate for Emergency Management, Federal Civil Protection Administration, Civil Protection Administration of the Republic of Srpska, Association of Red Cross of BiH – Red Cross of the Republic of Srpska and Emergency Medical Aid Service of Trebinje.
Apart from the improvement and testing of knowledge and skills of rescuers for reacting in case of fires, the aim of the training and exercise was also improvement of cross-border cooperation, exchange of knowledge and best practices, both between institutions and services dealing with protection and rescue and the rescuers who often face the same challenges and have the same tasks.
These activities were continuation of efforts on improving the capacity of firefighting units and training of professionals made in the previous period when a cross-border training for 43 rescuers from the above mentioned municipalities was organized in Kolašin.