Valuable equipment for protection from fires procured

The equipment procured within the project “Cross-border Fire Protection” for the Directorate for Emergency Management and municipal protection and rescue services from Niksic, Pljevlja, Pluzine, Savnik and Zabljak is worth € 95,675 and will significantly contribute to capacity building of these institutions and services for more efficient protection from fires which cause considerable negative consequences, especially during summer months. The equipment procured consists of firefighting overalls, helmets and belts, protective gloves, backpack firefighting pumps and firefighting brooms. The equipment was presented during the press conference organised in Podgorica, on 31 May, during which the speeches were given by: Mr Mirsad Mulić, Director General of the Directorate for Emergency Management of the Ministry of Interior of Montenegro, Ms Donata Von Sigsfeld, Programme Manager at the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro, Ms Ana Vukadinović, Acting Director General for Coordination of EU Assistance Programmes at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Mr Samir Agić, Assistant Minister for Protection and Rescue of the Ministry of Security of BiH, Mr Edin Garaplija, Head of the Institute for Protection of Fires and Explosions from Sarajevo, Mr Veselin Gardašević, Head of Protection and Rescue Service of Nikšić Municipality and Mr Veselin Šturanović, Executive Director of FORS Montenegro.

Apart from the equipment, a very important component of the project is education of rescuers from Montenegro and BiH, which has been implemented through cross-border trainings and exercises, and included two trainings on fire prevention, protection and mitigation through which rescuers from target municipalities had the opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills, as well as two cross-border demonstration exercises through which they tested and demonstrated their level of readiness and rescue skills. Other project activities implemented so far included cross-border trainings for employees in protection and rescue systems of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina on Disaster Risk Reduction, media campaign with the aim of informing population on prevention of and protection from fires, publications, lectures and workshops in local communities and primary and secondary schools.

The project “Cross-border Fire Protection” is financed by the European Union within Cross-border Cooperation Programme Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro. The project is being implemented in the following municipalities in Montenegro: Niksic, Pluzine, Savnik, Zabljak and Pljevlja, by FORS Montenegro and Directorate for Emergency Management of the Ministry of Interior of Montenegro in cooperation with the protection and rescue services from target municipalities. In BiH, it is being implemented in Mostar, Jablanica, Konjic, Ravno, Stolac, Cajnice, Gacko, Bileca, Foca and Trebinje by the Ministry of Security of BiH and Institute for Protection of Fires and Explosions from Sarajevo.